Miraculous Ladybug vs The Forces of Evil
by MetaLord395
Summary: It's spring break, and Star Butterfly and Marco Diaz are heading to Paris for some relaxation. Little do they know that new adventures await them in the form of local Parisian superheroes Ladybug and Cat Noir. But when old foes arise seeking vengeance, can the four of them put their differences aside to stop a vengeful Hawk Moth and Ludo before it's too late?
1. Prologue

**Okay, so I came up with the idea to do this fanfic while watching episodes of Star vs. The Forces of Evil and Miraculous Ladybug. And I realized that both shows had a lot in common, so why not blend the two into a crossover fic? :)**

Prologue

It was another boring day at the Diaz household. Star Butterfly and her friend Marco Diaz had just come home from the last few minutes of school before spring break. The two of them had plans for the entire vacation, and none of them involved fighting Ludo or his army.

"Ah, this is the life," Marco said, lounging back on his chair. "Nothing but you, me, and 5 days of nothing but relaxation."

"You said it," agreed Star Butterfly, the fourteen-year-old princess of Mewni. Star and Marco first met at Echo Creek Academy after Star's parents, who were the King and Queen of Mewni, transferred her to Earth so that Star could master her wand. While Star was still not in control of her wand just yet, her wandwork had tremendously improved from when she first started. In fact, at one point, she had managed to defeat an entire brigade of Ludo's henchmen with just one spell.

"Sooooooo . . . what _do_ you want to do?" Marco asked Star.

"We could always call up Pony Head and go on another dimension hopping adventure," Star eagerly suggested.

"Oh boy," Marco said; he knew exactly what was going on in her head: Nothing but a wild night of going to interdimensional clubs, arcades, the likes. The last time that had happened, he had been taken by three men from St. O's who interrogated him about Pony Head. Though the misunderstanding had been cleared up, he was still not looking forward to another episode like that.

"Or," he proposed, "we could go on vacation somewhere."

"Ooh! Ooh! How about Rome?" Star asked eagerly. "I always wanted to be there! Or maybe London? I always wanted to visit Shakespeare's birthplace!"

"Where were you in class?" Marco asked. "He was born in Stratford-upon-Avon!"

"Oh," Star said, a bit disappointed. "But can we still go there?"

"I guess," Marco admitted. "But the thing is, I always wanted to visit Paris."

At the mention of the word "Paris", Star's eyes lit up like Christmas lights. "Well, why didn't you say so? I have been DYING to go there! It's like, one of the places I really looked forward to going to here!"

"There's just one problem," Marco pointed out. Star's happy demeanor deflated a little. "We have a lot of stuff to pack. Not to mention that we need to know how to speak French. I don't suppose that wand of yours has a spell that will allow you to speak a foreign language, does it?"

"I'm sorry, _mon ami_ ," Star sighed. "Not that I know of."

"That's a shame," Marco lamented. "Oh well, as least we'll be able to go sightseeing. I have a list of things that I've always wanted to see, like the Arc de Triomphe, the Eiffel Tower . . ."

"And don't forget the Seine River," Star added, beaming at him. "I heard that the place is _sooooo_ romantic."

Marco chuckled. "Okay, we'll see if we can stop by that place on out sightseeing tour."

Just then, Mr. and Mrs. Diaz stopped by in the living room accompanied by a few laser puppies that Star accidentally conjured up on her first day here. At first, Marco had found them extremely annoying, but over time, had come to accept them as a part of his life, much like Star.

"Mom, Dad," Marco started, "our school is having spring break, and I wondering if we can go to Paris soon."

Mr. Diaz chuckled. "I'm sorry, but we never booked any flights for vacation. Maybe we can go this summer if both your mom and I are available then."

"Or," Star proposed eagerly, "I could always use the dimensional scissors to get us there in a jiffy." She took out the dimensional scissors, which, to the eyes of someone inexperienced, looked like a regular pair of scissors.

"Huh. Why didn't I think of that," Mr. Diaz said. "Well, in that case, I _suppose_ we could, if we had everything packed and ready by tomorrow."

"AWESOME!" Star yelled with glee, jumping off the walls to convey her excitement. "We're going to have so much fun!" She gave Marco a bear hug and bounced upstairs to get her stuff ready. Marco looked after her, smiling in satisfaction.

* * *

It was nighttime in Paris. Marinette Dupain-Cheng, a plucky fourteen-year-old high school student with blue hair, had just come back from a long day fighting another one of Hawk Moth's akumas. And as always, she lamented that she never got a chance to speak her crush Adrien Agreste, the son of her favorite fashion designer Gabriel Agreste. Although she could not help but wonder that her sidekick, Cat Noir, looked an awful lot like him . . .

She went upstairs to her bedroom, her energy totally spent. Her companion, a ladybug kwami named Tikki, floated by her side as she did so.

"Whew! Man, that sure was hard work, Tikki," she breathed.

"You can say that again," Tikki said. Like her human friend, the kwami too was tired. In fact, the first thing that Marinette did was fall straight onto her bed like a sack of yams. It was the weekend, and most of Marinette's friends would normally be out partying or hanging out. But unfortunately, Marinette had no such social life, and her social circle was limited to her parents, a few classmates from school, Alya, and perhaps Adrien. But other than that, not much was going in the way for her.

"Tikki?" Marinette asked her Kwami.

"Yeah, Marinette?"

"You ever wish that sometimes, you could have a bit more . . . adventure in your life?"

"Why do you ask that?"

"I don't know," Marinette sighed. "It's just . . . All I have to look forward to is nothing but school, fighting akumas, school, crushing on Adrien, and school. I want some more action in my life. Just once, I'd like to meet new people and learn about _their_ lives. That would make my ordinary life a bit more exciting. You know?"

"Yeah," Tikki said. "I know how that feels. But trust me, I have a feeling that you will meet someone new down the road."

"What makes you say that?" Marinette asked, curious.

"Things like this often happen when we least expect it," the ladybug kwami said sagely. "But it's best we let them take their course."

"Well," Marinette said to her companion, "good night, Tikki." She turned off the lights and fell asleep.

Elsewhere in Paris, in his large, comfortable estate in the outskirts of Paris, Adrien Agreste was feeling discontent as well. As his father would not allow him to go party with his friends like every other Parisian kid on a Friday night, he was stuck at home and forced to do nothing. Just once, he wished he could have a normal life like everyone else. But as Cat Noir, he would be very lucky to have even one day without fighting any akumas. In fact, he and his crush/sidekick Ladybug had just defeated yet another akuma who had tried to destroy an environmental factory in Paris. And yet he got the feeling that he had seen her somewhere before . . .

"Hey Plagg," he said, plopping down on his bed. "Do you ever wish that we could have, you know, more life outside these walls and empty spaces?"

Plagg, Adrien's cat kwami, didn't answer. He was too busy munching down on smelly cheese to even think of anything else. At last, he finished his last bite and gulped. "I don't know. Why would you ask?"

"Because just for one day," he said, "I'd like to meet some new people. Don't get me wrong, I like my schoolfriends and all, and I enjoy fighting alongside Ladybug, but I noticed that there appears to be a bit of a repetitive streak: I go to school, someone gets akumatized, I say 'Plagg, claws out!', I help Ladybug defeat the akuma, and before I get a good look and find out who Ladybug really is, she disappears." He sighed in discontent. "Just once, I would like a break from this. I wish I could meet new people and share adventures with _them._ What more is out there?"

"Believe me," the cat kwami said, "you might as well ask the bottom of your shoes for the answers."

Adrien sighed again. "All right, I guess I will call it a night. Who knows? Maybe I will find what I'm looking for."

And so, both Marinette and Adrien drifted off into sleep, unaware that in a few hours, their whole lives would change forever.

(~)

 **MetaLord395 presents . . .**

 **Based on characters by Daron Nefcy and Thomas Astruc**

( _sing to the Miraculous Ladybug theme song_ )

Star(speaking):

 _In the daytime, I'm Star Butterfl_ _y,_

 _Seemingly a normal girl with a normal life_

 _But what they don't know is that I have a secret_

 _Of which only Marco is aware._

 **Starring:**

 **Eden Sher as Star Butterfly**

(singing)

 _I live a life, that's full of fun,_

 _It keeps me sharp and on the run_

 **Adam McArthur as Marco Diaz**

 _When evil comes, I find a way_

 _To use my powers and save the day_

 **Alan Tudyk as Ludo, King Butterfly**

 _Oh oh oh,_

 _Life's got me spinning round_

 **Artt Butler as Mr. Diaz**

 **Nia Vardalos as Mrs. Diaz**

 _Oh oh oh_

 _He's got me off the ground_

 **Christina Vee as Marinette Dupain-Cheng/Ladybug**

 _Oh oh oh_

 _And when the night comes up,_

 _You'd better stick around_

 **Bryce Papenbrook as Adrien Agreste/Cat Noir**

Chorus:

 _I'm Star Butterfly_

 _Flying so high_

 **Mela Lee as Tikki**

 **Max Mittelman as Plagg**

 **Keith Silverstein as Hawk Moth, Gabriel Agreste**

 _And I feel like I could reach the sky_

 _I'm Star Butterfly_

 _Just swinging by_

 _I don't mind if you say to me "Hi"_

 **Carrie Keranen as Alya Cesaire**

 _Marco:_

 _The name's Marco, I'm a bad boy_

 _If you say otherwise, I'll be annoyed_

 **Ben Diskin as Nino Lahiffe**

 _She is my "Star", she's my best friend_

 _And we'll stay that way 'til the end_

 **Marieve Herington as Sabrina Raincomprix**

 _Oh oh oh_

 _She's got me spinning 'round_

 **Selah Victor as Chloe Bourgeois**

 _Oh oh oh_

 _My life is upside down_

 **Grey DeLisle as Queen Butterfly**

 _Oh oh oh_

 _And when the lights go out_

 _We'll always be around_

Chorus 2x

Marco:

 _It's Star Butterfly, flying so high!_

 _Ohhh!_

 **Dorothy Fahn as Sabine Cheng**

 _She's Star Butterfly, just swinging by_

 **and Christopher Smith as Tom Dupain**

 _She doesn't mind if you tell "Hi"_

 **Based on the TV shows "Star vs The Forces of Evil" and "Miraculous: Ladybug and Cat Noir"**

 _It's Star Butterfly!_

(~)

 **MIRACULOUS LADYBUG VS. THE FORCES OF EVIL**


	2. The Cat and the Ladybug

**WARNING: The following chapter will contain an unexpected ship tease.**

The Cat and the Ladybug

The next day, everyone in the family was ready to go to Paris. Star was having a conversation with her mother, Queen Butterfly, through a magic mirror planted on the wall of Star's (magically-created) bedroom.

"Are you sure you want to go to . . . Paris, with them?" Queen Butterfly was saying.

"Mom, relax," Star dismissed her mother's concerns. "Marco's a great guy, and his parents are pretty awesome too. I see no reason not to go with them."

Queen Butterfly raised an eyebrow. "And what about those laser puppies?"

"Pony Head is gonna take care of them," Star said, grinning. "Also, she'll act as our in-between while we are away."

Queen Butterfly paused. "All right, I suppose you can go with Marco and his parents to Paris."

"YAY! Thankyouthankyouthankyou!" Star bounced off the walls with excitement. It was going to be her, Marco, and his parents for five straight days. Nothing, and she meant _nothing_ , was going to get in the way of their vacation.

"Just . . . enjoy yourself," Queen Butterfly finished, a bit taken aback at her daughter's overboard enthusiasm. Her image disappeared as the transmission disconnected.

"MARCO!" Star burst into Marco's room, where she saw him packing everything he needed for the trip, and glomped him. He was surprised by this unrestrained display of affection, but smiled nonetheless. It was, after all, her way of showing excitement and eagerness."Guesswhatguesswhatguesswhat!"

"Whoa, whoa, take it easy, tiger!" Marco chuckled. "What is it?"

"My mom says that I can go on the trip with you and your parents!" She squeed. "This is going to be so awesome!"

"That's great!" Marco smiled. "Have you packed everything you need?"

"Yep!" she exclaimed. "I got everything I will need right here!" She levitated her wand, and her suitcase flew into the room. Marco was frankly amazed that she could pack so much stuff, including her spellbook, into a small suitcase. "Here! Let me help! _Organize and stack spell_!"

Instantly, everything that Marco planned to take on the trip flew into his suitcase. Marco grinned at her. Having a magical princess from another dimension living in your house does have its benefits. It was too bad for everyone else that they never got to experience this.

Soon, the entire Diaz family (and Star) were ready to get to Paris. Mr. and Mrs. Diaz had carried a few suitcases with them to the living room hall, where Star and Marco had already deposited theirs.

"Now, I've already booked us a few rooms in the Francois Dupont Hotel," Mr. Diaz said. "If we can arrive there before 8 pm Paris time, they _might_ give us a discount on room rentals. Just thought you should know."

"Sweet!" Star said.

Just then, the doorbell rang, and Star's best friend Pony Head came in. She was exactly what her name said: a green floating unicorn head with a pink mane and a sarcastic sense of humor. As soon as she saw Star, she ran- er, _floated_ \- up to her best friend for a hug. "B-Fly!"

"Pony Head!" Star gave the green unicorn a hug. "You sure you can take care of the laser puppies while we're away?"

"Oh, you bet, girl," Pony Head smirked. "I'm sure I could handle the responsibility. Looking forward to Paris?"

"Yep!" Star gave her a toothy grin. "We're all set. And now . . ." She took out a pair of dimensional scissors and "cut" open a wormhole. Almost immediately, Marco's parents tossed all their suitcases into the hole.

"You're sure this is the hole to Paris?" Marco asked, unsure.

"Relax, Marco," Star said. "Have I ever let you down before?"

Marco paused, unsure of what to say. He wouldn't want to say it, but she _had_ let him down before, albeit unintentionally. He still could not forget Star's first day on Earth, when she had almost destroyed his room, conjured up the laser puppies and cacti, and trapped him under a literal cloud of rain. Though he had eventually forgiven her, he was still leery of her skill.

"Not really," he admitted, half-truthfully.

"'Kay." She turned to Pony Head. "I think you can take it from here, can you?"

"Oh, yeah," the unicorn said. "I'll take over from here, girl. Hope you and Earth turd all have fun!" Marco growled at the nickname, but otherwise said nothing. Even though he and Pony Head got along a lot better now than previously, he still wished she wouldn't call him "Earth turd".

"Thanks," Star said, just as Mr. Diaz finished putting the last of the suitcases into the hole. She turned around. "All right everyone, I think we're ready! Let's go!"

One by one, Marco and his parents went into the hole. Star turned to face her friend one last time, and gave her a good-luck smile before finally entering.

Star emerged from the other side of the dimensional hole to find the Diazes and their belongings on a street corner in the middle of the city. It was still daytime, no doubt about that. But the sun's position in the sky had changed. Star peered into the distance to see a familiar A-shaped structure in the distance. That was . . .

"The Eiffel Tower!" Marco squeaked with joy. "You did it, Star! You did it! We're in Paris!"

"Yeah, I guess I did," Star said.

"Now all need to do is find the hotel," Mr. Diaz was saying. "I know it's around here somewhere . . ."

Just then, a large explosion sounded in the distance, followed by several people running and screaming. Star and Marco turned to see that a large fire had broken out at the far end of the street. Calmly stepping out the blazing inferno was a lone, solitary figure covered in black-and-red technological armor from head to toe. His eyes were a deep, chilling incarnadine, and he appeared to be carrying what looked like a flamethrower connected to a tank that was strapped to his back. The only part of his face that could be seen was his mouth, and it was formed into a cruel, twisted smirk. The stranger's helmet had red spikes sticking straight out of it.

Star and Marco glared at the stranger. Whoever he was, he was going to pay for all the destruction that he had caused. The two looked at each and nodded in unspoken agreement. Then, they charged forward. After all, he may not be one of Ludo's monsters, but he was just as bad, if not worse.

"Marco, Star, stop!" Mr. Diaz called, to no avail. The two of them had already started running.

"Hey, you!" Star called. The fiery stranger focused his glare on her. " _Arctic freeze winter wind_!" Instantly, a large mass of ice and snow came out of nowhere and flew straight into the stranger. But the stranger was not going down without a fight. He adjusted a dial on his armor and fired a large flaming swath at the wintry mass. While most of the snow evaporated, some of it landed onto him and he crumpled.

But that was not enough to keep him down for long. With a great effort, the armored man managed to get back up, almost as though the snowy spell hadn't affected him at all. Star and Marco looked at each other with worry. Who was this man?

* * *

Meanwhile in the apartment above her parent's bakery, Marinette was gazing dreamily at a picture of Adrien. What would she not give to just have him in her arms, to kiss his lips as they strolled along the banks of the Seine, hand in hand?

"Marinette?" Tikki broke her thoughts.

"Yeah?" she replied, almost dreamily.

"You might want to check this out," Tikki said, a bit grimly. She flew over to Marinette's laptop and tapped a button. The computer was displaying a news report about a fire that had broken out in one of the other streets of Paris. Marinette stopped fantasizing long enough and headed over to the computer. And she could not believe what she was seeing next.

Against a backdrop of fire, a black-and-red armored figure wearing a spiked helmet was facing two teens, who could not be older than she was. One of them had long, flowing blonde hair and wore a red headband with devil horns sticking out of them and was holding something. The other was a brown-haired boy in a red hoodie who was hiding behind a vehicle.

"That must be one of another one of Hawk Moth's akumas," Marinette thought out loud. "And those kids, whoever they are, they're gonna need all the help they can get. TIKKI, SPOTS ON!"

And with that, she transformed into Ladybug and headed off to the street to help those two kids, whoever they were.

* * *

"Who is this guy?" Marco asked Star as she continued to fire snow spells at him. The armored man was countering each of her blows with shots of fire. Star was getting nervous. She was so used to fighting monsters that she didn't even think that she would have to come across something like this.

"I don't know, Marco!" Star yelled. The next fire blast destroyed a nearby telephone pole, which creaked and toppled dangerously before finally crashing down in front of them.

"Let's leave!" Marco yelped, clearly wanting to get out of there. The figure heard the cry, focused and aimed its flamethrower on him . . .

All of a sudden, he was in the arms of someone who was flying through the Parisian air. He stole a glance at his savior and he felt as if his heart would drop.

She was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen, even prettier than Jackie Lynn Thomas. Her hair was cobalt blue and came out in two cute pigtails. She was wearing a red spandex suit with black spots all over it. She wore a red mask that covered only the area around her eyes.

At last, she landed onto the ground and put him on the road. "Stay here," she said to Marco, then flew off. Marco nodded, dazed. There was no doubt that whoever this girl was, he wished he could be with her for all time.

* * *

Ladybug headed back to the scene of the fight and landed right next to the blonde teen with the devil headband. She whipped out her yoyo and swung it rapidly. The blonde teen turned to face her with amazement. Her face had blushes in the shape of hearts and her eyes were filled with confusion.

"Who are you?" the girl asked Ladybug. "What have you done with Marco?"

"The boy? He's in a safe place, but this is no time to talk," she said. "Where is Cat Noir?" she muttered to herself.

Speak of the devil, her partner Cat Noir arrived, a lanky blond boy wearing a black cat costume. He landed on Ladybug's other side and flashed her a cocky grin. "Did I miss anything?"

"No, you're just in time," Ladybug said. Cat Noir got an eyeful of the girl on Ladybug's other side.

"I didn't know you had a new partner in crime," he quipped.

"She's not," Ladybug said. "I just met her."

Cat Noir smirked at the girl. "Well, hello there. Name's Cat Noir. And you are?"

"Star Butterfly, but this is no time to talk," the blonde girl said. "Right now, we need to focus on defeating who _he_ is!"

"He's Hothead, one of Hawk Moth's akumas," Cat Noir was saying.

Star raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Who's Hawk Moth? And what's an akuma?"

"We'll explain afterwards," Ladybug said.

Star turned to face Hothead and saw that a pink butterfly outline had appeared in front of Hothead's face. Hothead smirked evilly, then said, "It will be done, Master." He pointed his flamethrower at the trio, and it transformed into a superpowerful hi-tech laser.

 _This trip keeps getting weirder and weirder,_ Star thought to herself.

Hothead fired the laser at Star, who held up her wand and cast a defensive crystal shield spell. The spell reflected the laser back at Hothead, who dove out of the way to avoid getting hit. Ladybug looked at her in amazement. Clearly, whoever this girl was, she was not an ordinary civilian. Clearly, she had abilities which could be of use in this fight. The girl named Star followed up the spell with a powerful magic offensive front.

"How are you able to do that?" Ladybug asked Star, clearly in awe at the spectacle.

"My wand! It's magic!" Star replied.

Cat Noir blinked in surprise. "That's...I don't know how to respond to that."

The akuma did not stay down for long. He got up and aimed his laser at the three teens, eyes shrinking in malevolence.

"As much as I would love to explain this," Star was saying, "I'm afraid we have bigger fish to fry. Let's go!" They turned to face the akuma, their powers at the ready, and then charged.

Slowly, but surely, the fight was starting to take a toll on Hothead. The akuma simply could not keep with the magical arsenal of Star Butterfly, who was gaining an edge over her opponent. Both Ladybug and Cat Noir looked on in amazement. They shot each other a look that said, _We definitely need her on our team._

"Wow! You're good!" Cat Noir said in awe.

"Thanks! You guys aren't so bad yourselves, even if you are in spandex," Star replied.

Ladybug blinked. "Is that a compliment?"

Star opened her mouth in reply, but Hothead, still not willing to give up, aimed his wrist blaster at them All three dove out of the way as a second laser headed their way. It whizzed past an alarmed Marco and struck the front entrance of the Francois Dupont Hotel, setting the entire building on fire.

 _This is too dangerous,_ Ladybug thought. _Cat Noir and I have to stop him before someone gets hurt._ She turned to face Hothead and spun her yoyo in the air. "LUCKY CHARM!"

The yoyo opened to reveal a fire extinguisher. Ladybug looked at it in confusion while Star continued to fire snow spells at Hothead and Cat Noir looked panicked.

"Um, Ladybug, whenever you're ready, we can sure use the assistance!" he called.

 _Ladybug?_ Star thought. _What an odd name for a superhero._

Ladybug looked at her surroundings. At last, she seemed to have made a connection. "Cat Noir!" she called to her sidekick. "I'll need both you and Star's help! Use Cataclysm to destroy the roof of the room! Star, can you use your wand to push Hothead back?"

"No problem!" Star called. "Ready, Cat Noir?"

"Of course I am!" Cat Noir called. "CATACLYSM!" He activated his superpower and sunk his claws into the wall, which began to crack brutally. A large section of the ceiling finally collapsed and started to fall. Ladybug, meanwhile, fired the extinguisher at Hothead, who staggered about blindly.

"Falcon Push!" Star yelled, sending a purple wave of energy at the akuma. Hothead felt the full brunt of the attack hit him and he collapsed onto the floor just as the ceiling section crashed on top of him. His laser shattered instantly, and out of the ruins came a small black-purple butterfly.

"How are you able to do that?" Cat Noir asked, pointing at Star's wand.

"I'm a _maaaaaaaagical_ princess from another dimension," Star smiled sweetly, creating a rainbow with her wand as she did so.

Cat Noir shrugged. "If you say so."

"No more evildoing for you, little akuma," Ladybug said, throwing her yoyo at the butterfly. "TIME TO DE-EVILIZE!" The yoyo captured the butterfly, and Ladybug brought it back to her and opened it. "Bye bye, little butterfly." A pure white butterfly flew out of it peacefully. Ladybug threw the extinguisher into the air, which dissolved into a wave of red. "MIRACULOUS LADYBUG!"

The wave fixed everything that was damaged, but the burnt objects weren't automatically repaired. Meanwhile, a black-purple mass covered the person who was once Hothead, who groaned with confusion as to where he was. Star looked at the scene in confusion.

"Wait, a _butterfly_ did all this?" she asked. "How is this possible? And who are you?"

Ladybug opened her mouth to answer when her earrings flashed, which Star happened to notice. "Wait!" she called out. "What about your earrings?"

"No time to explain," she said. "But go to 896 E. Sycamore Street and ask for Master Fu. I think he can help you. I gotta go. I'm about to transform!" And with that she jumped away. Star turned to Cat Noir.

"I don't suppose _you_ have to go as well?" she asked.

"Actually I do," the cat hero chuckled nervously. He too got out of the vicinity.

 _Weird_ , Star thought to herself. She shrugged. After all, it could be worse. She could have ended up being a victim of those butterflies called "akumas".

Just then, Marco ran up to Star, panting with exhaustion. "Did. . . you . . . see that?" he said, excited. "That was amazing! Well, a bit scary, I admit it, but amazing nonetheless!"

"I know!" Star replied knowingly.

"And I wonder who the girl in red was," Marco added dreamily. "She was _awesome_."

Star's expression soured a little. She wouldn't admit it, but she had a crush on Marco, and she was not looking forward to him hooking up with anyone else.

"Her name's Ladybug," she answered, as if that was supposed to answer the question.

"Her real name," Marco corrected.

A powerful surge of envy rose up in Star like a tidal wave. Fighting to suppress it as best as she could, she smiled, through gritted teeth, "I have no idea, Marco."

"Oh, okay," Marco shrugged, a bit disappointed. "Let's go to the hotel now while we can still get a deal on our rooms."

"Actually, we need to make a quick stop at someone called Master Fu's first," Star said.

"Who's that?" Marco asked.

"I don't know," Star said. "But if we want to make sense of what just happened, I have a feeling we need to visit him so we can better prepare ourselves."

"Okay," Marco shrugged. "Let's go, then."

And so the pair headed to find Marco's parents so that they could find Master Fu's.

* * *

A shadowy figure stood in a room in the highest tower in all of Paris. He silently cursed as his window closed itself. Once again he had failed to capture Ladybug and Cat Noir's jewels. He vowed to not stop until he claimed both Miraculouses so that he could take over the world.

Oh well. The day hadn't been a complete loss. He could have sworn that he felt a new presence in the city, a tiny prick of jealousy and envy standing out amongst the otherwise calm emotions. He couldn't evilize the person yet, because the negative feeling wasn't big enough.

 _But no matter,_ he thought to himself, smiling. _Sooner or later, those feelings will burst out, and then I can use my akuma to evilize the person so that I can finally get those jewels all to myself. Once I do, then Ladybug and Cat Noir will fall, and I will finally rule the world!_

 **Please try not to make Star jealous, Marco. It's only going to hurt you big-time in the end.**

 **What's going to happen next? Stay tuned for more!**


	3. Meet Marinette

**The first real meeting of the two worlds.**

Meet Marinette

It was the late afternoon. Master Fu and his turtle kwami, Wayzz, were quietly and peacefully sipping their jasmine tea after a long day of work. Times like these were hard to come by, what with keeping track of Hawk Moth's akumas and what not.

The bell rang as the door opened. Master Fu turned to see that it was not Marinette and Tikki who had come to visit him, but rather two kids who he was certain were not from around here. One was a brown-haired boy wearing a red hooded sweatshirt, brown pants and sneakers. The other was a blonde-haired girl with heart-shaped blushes who wore a sea-green dress with an octopus on the front, purple boots designed like rhinos, magenta-and-orange-striped leggings, a red headband with devil's horns sticking out of them, and a small star-shaped bag and carried a small instrument of some sort. Master Fu turned to his kwami and hissed, "Go! Hide quickly!" Wayzz nodded and quickly disappeared, while his master turned to the two kids. "Can I help you?" he asked politely.

"Yes," the boy in the red sweatshirt started. "We're looking for someone named Master Fu."

"Have you heard of him, by any chance?" the girl continued.

The old man chuckled warmly. "Well, look no more, because you're looking right at him." The kids looked at each other amazement. "Please sit down." He offered two seats to his guests, who graciously accepted his offer. "Now, please introduce yourselves. Who are you? And why have you come to visit me?"

"I'm Star Butterfly," the girl introduced herself. "And this is my best bud, Marco Diaz." She put her arm around Marco, who smiled and waved at him.

"We were kinda hoping you could tell us about these things called 'akumas'," Marco said to Master Fu. "We battled one of them earlier today and someone named Ladybug said you would be able to tell us about them."

Master Fu chuckled again. "I know Ladybug. She and Cat Noir are old friends of mine. She was wise to direct you two to me. I will explain what akumas are. But first, let me tell you about these things called Miraculouses."

"Miraculouses?" Marco and Star repeated in confusion.

"The Miraculouses are ancient jewels that were created many centuries ago," Master Fu started. "They bestow amazing power to whoever wears them and are meant to be used for good purposes. There are seven known Miraculouses. Come, let me show you." He went over to a record player and pressed a button to reveal a chest. Star and Marco looked on in awe. There indeed were seven Miraculouses, three of which were missing. Star noticed that the center of the chest had a yin-yang design.

"What Miraculouses were here?" she asked, pointing to the design.

"These two are the most powerful Miraculouses to ever exist," Master Fu said. He pointed to the yin of the design. "This is the Ladybug Miraculous, which, with the help of the ladybug kwami, turns the wearer into a ladybug themed superhero with the power of good luck and creation. Its counterpart is the Cat Miraculous, which turns the wearer in to a black cat themed superhero with the power of bad luck and destruction. It is said that whoever wears both at the same time will gain absolute power."

"Ooh," said Star. "Sounds intimidating."

"Indeed. In fact, there are unscrupulous people who would want both of these jewels to achieve victory over their enemies," Fu continued, a bit sadly.

"What about that one?" Marco asked, pointing to the third missing Miraculous.

"That is the Moth Miraculous," Fu continued, sounding as though he would have liked to avoid the subject. "It grants the wearer the ability to create superheroes using butterflies. Sadly, its current owner is ill-advisedly using it for evil."

"Who would that be?" Star asked.

Fu paused. "Hawk Moth."

Star gasped. So this Hawk Moth, whoever he was, he was using those akumas to create supervillains. That would explain why she saw a butterfly come out of the ruins of the battle earlier today. "That's terrible," she said at last.

"It is," Fu sighed, almost solemn now. "His goal is to obtain both Ladybug and Cat Noir's jewels so that he can rule the world. That's why, whenever someone experiences a strong negative emotion, he sends out an akuma to evilize the person so that he can make him or her his obedient servant. If he were to actually obtain the jewels, dire consequences would entail for the entire world."

"How do these jewels turn you into superheroes?" Marco asked eagerly. An idea was starting to form in his head. If he could wear one of these jewels right now, he could actually be of assistance in a future fight.

"With the help of these spirits called kwamis," Master Fu said. "Ladybug's is a ladybug named Tikki, and Cat Noir's is a cat named Plagg." He called out, "It's all right, Wayzz! You can come out now!"

Slowly but surely, a new creature came out of hiding. He was as big as a large raisin, had light green skin and yellow sclerae, and had a slightly darker green turtle shell on his back.

"Awwwww!" Star went up to the turtle kwami, excitement bubbling. "Who's this little sweetie?" she cooed.

"Marco, Star, say hello to Wayzz, my turtle kwami," Master Fu introduced.

"It is an honor, Star Butterfly and Marco Diaz." Wayzz bowed, and Marco Diaz bowed back in respect.

"You know who we are?" Star asked.

"I heard everything from within my quarters," Wayzz explained, motioning to the matchbox in which he slept.

"Ah," Star said.

Just then, Marco's parents entered the dojo unannounced. "Look, we'd hate to interrupt," Mrs. Diaz interrupted hurriedly, "but we're in a bit of a hurry to get to our apartment. If there is any way that you can wrap this up-"

"There's no point, Angie," Mr. Diaz cut her off. "The hotel is still damaged from the attack earlier today. We're going to have to find somewhere else to stay."

A thin smile formed on the old master's lips. "I think I may be of assistance. I will be sure to let the people involved know of this as well. Now, here's where I would advise you to stay . . . "

* * *

It was getting dark. Marinette had just come home from yet another long of spying on Adrien with her best friend Alya, who had been trying to get her friend to work up enough courage to speak with him.

"You do realize that at some point you're going to have to tell him, right?" Alya needled her.

Marinette sighed. "Alya, how do you think he would feel if I did that?"

Alya put her hand on her best friend's shoulder. "I think he would be very touched and pleased that you actually care about him."

"Yeah," Marinette admittedly sighed. "But I can't do that as long as Chloe and Sabrina are around him like a couple of mayflies." As the daughter of the mayor of Paris, Chloe Bourgeois felt that she was entitled to everything, and that there was really nothing anybody else could do about it.

Alya didn't say anything. She was too busy surfing through her Ladyblog posts. She thought it was a bit weird that Ladybug and Cat Noir had the help of someone else who she had never seen before. What was especially weird was she had seen the new girl doing something she could only describe as . . . magic. But a part of her was tempted to dismiss it. After all, who could create spells that pushed the enemy back or summoned large masses of snow and ice?

"Hey girl, check what I recorded on my Ladyblog earlier today," Alya said. Marinette looked at the video her friend uploaded onto her website. She saw herself as Ladybug, fighting alongside Cat Noir and the girl named Star Butterfly against Hothead. "Don't you think that this new chick is . . . amazing?"

"What about her?" Marinette asked.

"Even though a part of me disagrees, I believe that this new girl is unlike anyone we've ever seen in Paris," Alya said eagerly. "For one, she wasn't wearing a mask when she fought alongside Ladybug earlier. Whoever heard of a superhero who doesn't wear a mask?"

"Uh huh," Marinette grunted.

"And another thing, how does she do that magic?" Alya asked further. "She's clearly not an akuma, so where does she get those magical powers?"

"I have no idea," Marinette smiled weakly. Although she could not help but admit that her friend had a point. Who _was_ Star Butterfly and the boy from earlier? What were they doing in Paris? And should she tell her best friend that Star was a princess as she claimed that she was? If so, would Alya believe her?

"Well, whoever this girl is, I'm not gonna stop 'til I dig up all the dirt on her," Alya continued. "This would be a gold mine for the Ladyblog."

"That's great." Marinette gave her friend a weak thumbs-up. She seriously doubted that Alya would be able to catch another sighting of Star Butterfly. The last thing she needed was more publicity. Her best friend was already on Ladybug's trail trying to dig up her secret identity, and she didn't need the extra stress in her life.

"Well, Alya," Marinette said, "I would like to stick around and chat some more, but it's almost dark and I have to leave now. Maybe I'll catch up with you later, okay?"

And then, she suddenly ran off without any warning. Alya looked after her in confusion, then shrugged . Her friend never really was one for reporting the facts.

As soon as Marinette was certain that she was out of Alya's sight, she stopped and breathed heavily. "Whew," she sighed in relief. "That was a close one."

"You can say that again," Tikki agreed. "But why were you so eager to get away from Alya, Marinette?"

"Tikki," Marinette sighed. "Alya's already trying to dig up my secret identity. I can't have her finding out about the new kids from earlier today."

"But still," Tikki chirped, "it wasn't very nice of you to just leave like that. Besides, it isn't like those two are going to show up on your front doorstep as soon as you get back."

"Yeah," Marinette agreed. "I'll go apologize to her tomorrow. Besides, I'm sure that they'll find another place to stay if they're visiting."

So the pair went back to the bakery where Marinette's parents worked and were surprised to find out that the door was already open. _That's odd_ , Marinette thought. _The bakery always closes early on weekends._ She and Tikki peered around the corner and could not believe what they were seeing next.

It was the two kids from the fight against the akuma earlier, and they were chatting up Marinette's parents as though they were old friends. Marinette's mother, Sabine Cheng, noticed her daughter out of the corner of her eye and waved her over.

"Marinette!" Tikki disappeared inside Marinette's purse. "Come meet the new kids who will be staying with us for a few days!"

Marinette nervously stepped forward, a nervous grin on her face as the two kids turned to face her. The boy instantly had a dreamy look in his eyes while the girl, who Marinette assumed was called Star Butterfly, repaid her nervousness with an excited smile on her face.

"Hi there!" Star ran forward and shook Marinette's hand so hard she felt that it would fall off. "My name's Star Butterfly! And this is my best bud, Marco Diaz! Who are you?"

"M-Marinette," the girl replied rather clumsily. "What are you doing here?"

"We were supposed to stay in a hotel earlier, but it got damaged in a fight we had against an akuma," Star elaborated. Marinette was privately surprised that this girl was not the least bit fazed about that. "So someone named Ladybug told us to visit Master Fu's, and he told us all about these things called Miraculouses and kwamis."

"That's . . . pretty interesting," Marinette said.

"Master Fu told us that we could stay with you," Star said. "That is, if you don't mind."

Marinette paused to consider. "No, I don't," she said, albeit a bit hesitantly.

"YAY!" Star let out a burst of delight. "This is going to be so much fun!" She raced up the steps to the penthouse apartment, leaving Marco and Marinette alone.

"So . . ." Marco broke the silence. "You actually live here?"

"Yes I do," Marinette smiled a little. "Where do you come from?"

"Echo Creek," Marco answered. "It's on the other side of the world, in California."

"Awesome," Marinette replied. "You need some help with your stuff?"

"Sure," Marco said, as the pair carried the suitcases up to the dorm of Marinette's apartment.

* * *

Later that night, Star and Marco had unpacked all of their belongings in Marinette's room.

"Sorry that there's not enough room," Marinette chuckled sheepishly.

"Hmm," Star pondered. "Aha! I've got it! _Sparkle glitter bomb expand_!" She cast the spell, and the entire floor rose upwards. Clearly, the apartment had expanded itself to provide more room for the two guests. Marinette looked out the front window, which clearly showed the apartment growing, in amazement while Marco gave her a nervous grin.

"Sorry about that," he said sheepishly. "Star can be sometimes be a bit . . . _reckless_." On this last word, he turned around and glared at her, to which she replied with a nervous grin.

Marinette shrugged, barely trying to contain her excitement at seeing her perform magic again. "It's okay."

Just then, Mr. and Mrs. Diaz came upstairs.

"Mom, Dad," Marco was saying, "Star just created a bedroom for us to stay while we are here."

"Oh, okay," Mr. Diaz said. He and his wife went downstairs to the magically created floor.

"Well, after this, we might have dinner," Marco said. "You want to join us?"

"Sure," Marinette agreed. "I'll be right there."

With that, Star and Marco went downstairs to the room that she magically created to unpack their stuff. Marinette said nothing, but decided to stare out the window into the Parisian twilight that had enveloped the sky.

 _Well_ , _at least nothing can go wrong,_ she said. _It's not like anything spectacular is going to happen while they are around._

Little did she know how wrong she was.

 **Wonder what's going to happen next? Stay tuned!**


	4. Love Square

**I'll give you one guess what the title will indicate about the plot for the chapter.**

Love Square

In the dark and treacherous terrain of the Mewni wilds, under cover of a stormy night, a solitary bird flew against the tumultuous wind to get word back to his master. He had news which his master desired so greatly, and he must not fail him at any cost.

At last, his destination approached, a castle as black as night surrounded by storm clouds striking lightning everywhere. The bird flew in through a small opening at the top of the tower and headed for the throne room, eager to deliver his report.

The bird soon spotted a creature with the head of a zebra and the horn of a unicorn guarding the entrance. It let out a single, loud caw, which grabbed the attention of the creature. The zebracorn bowed low, then opened the door, allowing the bird to fly up and rest on the throne of its occupant.

"Well, done, my pet," said the occupant, a short grayish-green bird-like monster with yellow eyes and fanged dark gray beak, which was currently contorted into an evil smile. He wore a skull-like crown which covered a green-and-blue fringe underneath. "Now, we attack her. Where did you say she was again?"

The bird let out a long, single caw. The creature pondered this new piece of news. "Well, this will be a bit more difficult than anticipated. Buff Toad!"

"Yes, Master Ludo?" came a deep, frog-like voice that came from none other than Ludo's second-in-command, Buff Toad.

"Saddle up the spider," Ludo answered, leering at his minions. "We're going to Paris!" He flashed a malevolent grin.

* * *

It was morning. The golden sunshine passed through the curtains of Marinette's room. She groaned softly, having just come out of a weird dream that involved somebody named Star Butterfly and Marco Diaz. It was pretty weird, as she was pretty sure that she had never of people with those names before.

Then, her nose picked up a scent which she had never come across before. It definitely wasn't coming the bakery, she surmised that much. She got up and dressed quickly. What was that scent? She followed her nose, which led her down to the kitchen.

There were the two kids from yesterday and form her dream, the blonde girl with the devil headband and the kid in the red hoodie. They were making what appeared to be triangle-shaped wheat chips covered in what looked like yellow liquid. The girl noticed Marinette out of the corner of her eyes and waved at her. "Morning, Marinette!"

Marinette yawned. "Mornin', Star. Mornin', Marco." She sat down at the table. "What are you guys making?"

"Oh, nothing," Marco answered. "Just some of Marco Diaz's world-famous Super Awesome Nachos!"

" _Marco's Super Awesome Nachos_!" Star sang loudly. "It's super delish! Wanna try some?" She offered a handful of the chips to Marinette, who stopped to consider, then shrugged and took one.

Instantly, Marinette's mouth exploded in flavor. Her taste buds felt as if they had been awakened form a long and deep slumber. Never before had they experienced a sensation such as this. Marinette took more of the nachos and stuffed them in her mouth. "This is amazing!" she exclaimed once she had finished. "You're an excellent cook!"

"Aw, thanks," Marco chuckled. "I'm glad you enjoyed."

Star looked at Marco out of the corner of her eyes, as though she was nervous. But she dismissed whatever thoughts were piling up in her mind and turned to Marinette. "So, Mari, what plans do you have for today?"

Marinette was about to answer when Star noticed one of her sketches on the fridge. "Wow! This looks amazing! Did you make this?" she asked.

Marinette blushed. "Oh, um, well, yeah. It's just a rough sketch, I don't know why mom keeps it on the fridge." Marco looked at the drawing, noticing how despite being just a sketch, it carried a lot of the qualities of a professional designer. "Wow is right, you're really good, Marinette."

Star leaped forward, beaming at her new friend. "Do you have anymore?"

"Um, yeah. I have a whole notebook full of em, and a few stuff done upstairs in my room."

"Oh! I wanna see! I wanna see!" Star sprung towards Marinette's room, only for the blue-haired girl to quickly block her way.

"No!" she exclaimed, making Star blink in bewilderment. "I mean...It's a total mess, let me spruce it up a bit and then you can come right up." Marinette hurried upstairs and worked like a maniac removing all pictures of Adrien from her room, hiding them away in drawers and under her bed. Tikki flew up, seeing her human in such a frantic state.

"Marinette, why are you so anxious right now?"

"I can't just let them see all my pictures of Adrien! They'll think I'm some kind of stalker! They're guests here, the last thing I want is to make them feel uncomfortable. Besides, it's not like they need to know anyways. Why would they care about who I have a crush on?"

Soon a knock resounded on the door. "Everything okay?" came Star's voice.

"Hide, Tikki!" Marinette hissed, and the ladybug kwami fled into her purse. "Coming!" the young girl cried, hastily collecting a few more design plans. She opened the door to see Star and Marco's concerned faces staring back at her.

"You okay?" Marco asked.

"Of . . . of course!" Marinette chuckled nervously. "Here are some more creations of mine!" She shoved them quickly into their arms.

"Wow!" Star said in amazement after seeing all of her designs. "You ever considered doing fashion, Mari? I think you would blow everyone away with these!"

"Aw, thanks, Star!" Marinette was genuinely touched. "That's what I want to be when I grow up, in fact! A fashion designer!"

"So as I was about to say," Star continued, "what plans do you have for today?"

"Well," Marinette said, "I was going to show you around the city, since you and your folks will be staying here for a few days. Are you two in?"

"Oh yeah," Star answered eagerly. "We're in."

The three of them went downstairs into the bakery where Marinette's parents worked. Business had been a bit slower than usual, but they didn't seem to mind that much.

"Later, Mom!" Marinette called. "I'm going to show our guests around the city!"

"Okay, sweetie!" Mrs. Cheng called. "Just be careful!"

"Later Mom and Dad!" Marco called up the stairs. "Mari is showing me and Star around the city!"

"Okay! Take care!" was Mr. Diaz's reply.

And so, the trio walked out of the bakery into the fresh Parisian spring air. A cool wave caressed each of them with every step they took. It was a most wonderful feeling, thought Marco; aside from the akuma attack yesterday, this vacation got off to a very good start.

Just then, another voice shattered the calm air like glass that was dipped into subzero liquid.

"Marinette! Wait up!"

Marinette turned around to see Alya running up to them as though she had just run a marathon. Alya soon stopped in front of them, panting for breath.

"Alya!" Marinette hugged her best friend. "It's so good to see you!"

"Likewise, my friend!" Alya hugged her back.

"Listen," Marinette started, remembering the conversation that she had with Tikki the previous day, "I'm sorry for just running out on you. I just . . . you know . . ."

"Relax, girl," Alya dismissed. "It's okay. By the way, I didn't know that _they_ would be friends of yours!" She motioned over to Marco and Star.

"We just met her," Marco pointed out.

"Who are you, anyways?" Star asked.

"Oh right, you don't know me yet," Alya said, extending a hand for the two of them to shake. "Alya Cesaire is my name, reporter for the Ladyblog and best friend of Marinette's. Do you mind answering a few questions for me?"

"Ladyblog?" Star asked in confusion.

"It's a website that deals with activities of the superhero Ladybug," Alya explained. "And I believe that you fought alongside her and Cat Noir yesterday when you defeated the akuma."

"Who's Cat Noir?" Marco asked, confused.

"Ladybug's sidekick," Alya said. "Wears a black cat costume, carries a bo staff, makes terrible cat puns, never heard of him?" Marco shook his head. Alya took out her phone and showed them a video. Marco saw a kid in a black cat costume fighting alongside Ladybug and Star. "Oh," he admitted. "I've never actually seen him in person, though."

Alya nodded in acknowledgement. "What are your names, anyway?"

"Marco Diaz and Star Butterfly," Marinette answered promptly.

"Nice, nice," Alya said, writing down on a notepad. "Star, I want to ask you something: Where do you get your magical powers from?"

"What?" Star asked flatly, clearly not understanding the question.

"Your magical powers," Alya repeated firmly. "The video clearly shows you doing some kind of magic. Where do you get your powers from?"

"Oh, that?" Star chuckled. "I get them from my magic wand. You see, I'm the princess of Mewni."

Silence. Then Alya burst out into laughter. "You? A princess? Right! And my dad is the Mayor of Paris!"

"He is?" Star asked.

Alya stopped laughing, then sobered up. "Of course not! That would be Chloe Bourgeois's dad!"

"Who's . . . Chloe?" Marco asked.

"Only the most unbearable girl in all of Paris," Marinette answered, slightly fuming. "She's in our grade and she has been trying to make my life miserable for as long as I can remember! Her father is the mayor of Paris and she always gets away with _everything_!" She growled.

"Wow," Marco answered, cringing. "She does _not_ sound like a very nice person."

Marinette gave a hollow laugh. "Trust me, that is a _huge_ understatement."

"Anyways," Alya interrupted, "who are you really?"

"I just said, I'm the princess of Mewni," Star repeated. She took out her wand and cast a spell at a nearby parked car. The car grew legs and a tail and ran up to Alya, giving a big slobbery kiss to her. The car-dog hybrid then ran off in search of adventure.

For a minute, no one said anything. Then Alya said, almost excitedly, "That was AWESOME!" She started filming Star and Marco. "What was that spell you just cast? And is your friend from another dimension as well?"

"No, Alya," Marco chuckled. "I'm just a regular human Earth boy."

"And that spell I just cast was a transformation spell," Star added. "I wanted to turn that car into an oversized puppy. Guess it still needs work." She put her hand behind her head and ginned nervously. "Plus, I kinda feel sorry for whoever owned that car. Now, he'll have to get a new one."

"Well, I'm starting to believe that you really are a princess," Alya replied, finishing her notes. "Do you mind if I ask you a few more questions? Where are you guys headed anyways?"

"On a tour of the city," Marinette said, rather off-handedly.

"Cool! Count me in!" Alya exclaimed.

And so, the four of them continued their tour of Paris. Alya asked Star and Marco about their past adventures, and the pair recounted how, time and again, they have had to defeat the forces of someone named Ludo, who had been trying to get Star's wand for quite some time. Alya listened with wonder as Star recounted the time she had to forge a temporary alliance with Ludo and his men to rescue Marco from a guy named Toffee.

"You guys get to have adventures _all the time_!" Alya groaned when all this was over. "I wish something exciting would happen in the city of Paris! But the closest thing to that is an akuma attack about once a week! I honestly wouldn't mind finding out Ladybug's secret identity right about now!"

Now it was Marinette's turn to chuckle nervously. "I'm sure you wouldn't, Alya."

They passed a modeling picture of a boy with brushed-back blond hair and soulful light green eyes. His skin was fair with a rosy tint, especially around the cheeks, nose and the tips of his ears. Marinette felt her heart flutter as she passed by. Star pointed at the picture. "Who's that?"

"That's Adrien," Alya answered, when it was apparent that Marinette was too love-struck to reply.

Star and Marco exchanged blank looks. ""Who's Adrien?" Star asked.

"Oh right, you're not from around here," Marinette said, finally coming to her senses. "He's the son of my favorite fashion designer, Gabriel Agreste, and one of the most popular kids at my school.

"Ah," Star said noncommittally.

"Isn't he amazing?" Marinette said dreamily.

 _Not really,_ Star thought to herself. _So what if he's rich and famous?_

"That's . . . great," Marco replied, with a painfully forced smile. He tried to conceal the fact that Marinette had her sights on someone who he couldn't hope to compete with, a boy who was a rich model and the son of a fashion designer to boot.

"I know," Marinette said, completely oblivious to the pain in his voice. "I know."

* * *

Adrien sighed. Another weekend with virtually no contact with the outside world. He rolled around in his bed. Just once, he would like to live a normal life and not be restricted by the life of a supermodel. But he knew that was not going to happen.

"Another day," he muttered, "I'm staying home, with just my cat, nowhere to roam."

That was it. He couldn't stay home all day when there were no modeling jobs to be done. He needed to be out of the house. He got up and went down the stairs, stopping by his father's office on the way. Plagg followed him.

"Father, I'm going outside for a walk!" he called. No response. Adrien sighed. Typical. What did he expect? His father was never around him when he needed him.

"Natalie! Tell my father I'm going out for a walk!" he called.

"Okay!" was her reply.

As they exited the estate grounds, Plagg kept bugging him about his affections for the girl named Star Butterfly.

"Where we going?" he asked teasingly. "To the chocolate shop so that you can buy some sweets for the princess? Looks like someone has a crush on the new girl."

"What? No!" Adrien responded, almost defensively. But his cheeks blushed furiously until they were as crimson as a rose. This was a lie, and both he and Plagg knew it.

"Well, Romeo," Plagg continued almost teasingly, "you better let Juliet know how you feel about her. And stay sharp!"

"For the record, I do not have a crush on her!" Adrien remarked.

As Plagg disappeared into his pocket, Adrien continued to walk, lost in his own thoughts. He was so wrapped up that he did not realize that he crashed into someone until he fell down. When he got back up, there were four people: Alya, Marinette, the blonde girl named Star Butterfly and a brown-haired kid wearing a hoodie that reminded him of Kim. Adrien's heart dropped upon seeing Star Butterfly, the supposed princess of Mewni. Up until now, he had never met a girl as beautiful as Ladybug, but that all changed when he met Star. Her eyes were the clearest blue of all the blue eyes he had ever seen. Her long blonde hair was _much_ prettier than Chloe's. And the way she helped him take down the akuma . . . it was almost like _magic_ . . . He stared dreamily at her. Hopefully, these two girls would not have to end up competing for his affection.

"Hey Alya, Marinette," he greeted his friends, doing to his best to repress a grin from the sight of Star Butterfly. "Who are your friends?"

"Adrien," Marinette motioned over to Star and Marco. "Say hello to Marco Diaz and Star Butterfly. They'll be visiting Paris for a while." Star and Marco waved at him, the latter a bit more reluctantly than usual.

"You must be Adrien Agreste," Marco said, with forced enthusiasm. "Marinette has told us a lot about you." _A bit_ too _much, if you ask me_ , he added bitterly.

"Yeah," Adrien chuckled. "Though sometimes I wish I could be like everyone else." Marco and Star looked at each other, a bit surprised.

"Did you know that Star is the princess of this other dimension called Mewni?" Alya asked eagerly. "That's what she told the Ladyblog on the way here. She even performed a spell as a demonstration. It was amazing!"

"Yeah! I know!" Adrien answered, perhaps a bit _too_ enthusiastically.

All four of them had surprised looks on their faces, particularly Star. "Really?" she asked suspiciously.

"Um . . . no?" Adrien backtracked, trying to conceal his feelings for her.

"Okay," Star said slowly. Something fishy was going on around here.

"So, what do you guys want to do?" Marco asked, hoping to defuse the tension.

"Well, how about we show you around the city of Paris?" Marinette answered. "After all, you did say you will be here for a while."

"Good idea," Marco said. Besides that, he could use it as an opportunity to get to know more about Marinette.

"It's settled, then," Adrien decided. "As long as I get back by sundown. You know." Alya and Marinette agreed.

As the five of them started to move, Plagg whispered from Adrien's pocket, "Nice going, lover boy! You nearly blew your cover!"

"Will you keep it down?" Adrien hissed back. "I don't want them to find out!"

"Find out about _what_ , exactly?" Alya's voice interrupted. Adrien looked up to see that Star, Marco, Marinette, and Alya were now looking at him with confused expressions on their faces.

"Nothing," Adrien innocently answered as Plagg disappeared into the depths of his pocket.

Marinette, Marco, and especially Star raised eyebrows. Alya just stared back at him blankly.

"Okay, then," Star answered. As the five teens left the estate grounds to start the tour of Paris, she thought to herself, _Something definitely smells of fish here. I'm going to find out what it is._

* * *

In the darkness of the room, Hawk Moth stopped as he felt a disturbance erupt in Paris. He paused, and focused all his Miraculous energy on locating the disturbance. Clearly, an opening had been breached in the fabric of this world, and he was going to determine who-or what-was behind it.

As he focused his energy, it became clearer and clearer to him that whoever was causing it, it could help him obtain Ladybug's and Cat Noir's jewels. He felt an irrepressible grin break across his face. He was now _that_ much closer to achieving his goal of world domination. And the factors behind the disturbance were going to help him achieve this, whether they wanted to or not.

 **Hoo boy. I really feel bad for those four. Let the shipping begin!**

 **Also, why do I get the feeling that Ludo is behind the disturbance?**

 **What's going to happen? You'd better stay tuned!**


	5. New Meetings

**For those of you who want to see Chloe get some major comeuppance, your prayers have been answered. *giggles evilly***

New Meetings

It was the middle of the afternoon. Alya, Marinette, and Adrien were finishing up showing Star and Marco around the city. Star and Marco listened in amazement as Alya told them all about the akuma attacks that have happened throughout the city.

"You'd think that the Mayor would be doing more to protect his citizens instead of spoiling his daughter like crazy," Marco whispered to Star, as Alya filled them in about the Pixelator attack at the Champs-Elysees. Star nodded in agreement. Even her parents ruled Mewni better than this.

"-and here's where the akuma dubbed 'Animan' attacked us," Alya was motioning to a zoo on their right. Star snorted with laughter; she found the akuma's name to be hilarious. It sounded like something out of a Japanese cartoon. "Ladybug had rescued me and Nino from being stampeded to death by a bunch of wild animals. The funny thing is, until that point, I always considered Nino to be more of a brother, but I guess that spending time locked a cage can really do wonders for your relationship."

"Hey, what's that building over?" Marco asked, pointing to a really large and exquisite building in the far distance. Marinette looked over to where he was pointing, and her heart suddenly went into panic attack mode.

"Oh that?" Adrien asked. "That's the Grand Paris Hotel."

Marinette let out a small _eeep!_ Star shot a suspicious eye at her .

"Marinette," she said slowly, "is there something you're not telling us?"

Marinette sighed. She couldn't hold it in any longer. Sooner or later, they would have to know. "Fine. That hotel is owned by Mayor Bourgeois."

"Mayor Bourgeois?" Marco asked. "As in 'Chloe's dad' Mayor Bourgeois?"

"I'm afraid so," Marinette sighed. "Meaning there's a very high likelihood that Chloe is there as well. And I've already told you how the two of us get along."

Marco put a comforting hand on Marinette's shoulder. "Don't worry, Mari. If we ever come across her, we'll be sure to back you up. I'm pretty sure Star knows a spell or two that can send her packing."

"You really think so?" Marinette turned to Star.

"Sure thing," Star agreed. "I used to fight monsters all the time back on Mewni. I'm sure I can find a thing or two that can teach her a lesson."

* * *

The sun was about to set. Having finished the tour of Paris, the five of them decided to go back home and meet up again tomorrow. Deciding to go through the park that Alya mentioned earlier, they were about to head down a pathway containing the gorilla exhibit when they heard a girl's voice shout loudly.

"Well, I never said that you could come in my way without my say-so! Idiot!"

The gang froze and ducked behind the corner. Marinette, Star, and Adrien peered around the corner. There stood a blue-eyed girl of medium height, with honey blond hair pulled back into a ponytail who wore a yellow long-sleeved jacket over a white shirt with black stripes around the waist, and white jeans with a belt that had diamond-shaped bumps and white dress shoes, picking on a dark-haired girl wearing a long pink dress. Three kids were standing behind the first girl, clearly not wanting to get involved. One of them wore a red hoodie with a design on it as well as track sweatpants and sports shoes. Another was a darker-skinned, brown-eyes kid with curly brown hair and glasses and wore a green shirt and brown and tan checkered jeans held up by suspenders. The third wore glasses, headphones around his neck, and a red cap on top of his head, along with a blue t-shirt with an eye design on the front and blue-gray jeans.

"Chloe," Marinette and Adrien angrily muttered underneath their breath. Star didn't say anything, but narrowed her eyes. She was strongly reminded of Brittney Wong.

"I. . .I'm sorry," the dark-haired girl mumbled. "I didn't want to cause any trouble and I didn't think that . . ."

"Of course you didn't think," the girl named Chloe replied nastily. "You obviously didn't watch where you were going. You're supposed to pay attention to where you are going. What are you, blind?"

"Aw, lay off, Chloe," the kid in the hoodie protested. "Kimberlee didn't mean to do anything."

Chloe turned viciously on him. "Well, Kim, maybe you should have told your useless cousin over here to watch where she was going! Make sure she knows that as the mayor's daughter, I can make her whole life miserable if I wanted to!"

The dark-haired girl looked like she was going to cry. Marinette, who was all too familiar as what could potentially happen, decided to make her move. She marched up to Chloe, a determined expression on her face. Nothing was going to stop her from standing to her. Star followed her, also eager to put this girl in her place.

"Hey! Where you going?" Marco hissed.

Star and Marinette didn't reply, but rather kept marching until they were in view of Chloe, who turned to face them, a sneer etched across her face.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't Marinette Dupain-Cheng! What are you doing here? And who's your friend?"

"You'd better watch it, if you know what's good for you, Chloe," Marinette growled.

"She's right, you know," Star added menacingly.

Chloe let out an unimpressed chuckle. "Ooh, what are you going to do? _Stare_ at me? I'm so scared." She laughed maliciously.

Star gripped her wand with fury. She never expected that this . . . brat would be able to enrage her with just a few words. She now understood why Marinette said that Chloe was the most unbearable girl in all of Paris.

"And what is that?" Chloe pointed to Star's wand.

"Wouldn't you like to know," Star growled through gritted teeth.

"Well, I'd put that toy of yours away," Chloe remarked smugly. "Unless of course, you want to get in trouble."

Star could no longer hold it in. The dam burst, and she waved her wand in front of Chloe. A bright flash appeared, and when the light faded, there was a brown chicken where Chloe once stood, clucking about in a confused and frightened manner.

Silence. Everybody stood in complete shock, except Star, who was smiling at the chicken in a self-assured manner.

"You were saying, Chloe?" Star asked the chicken, who was staring back at her in fright. The chicken screeched, clearly wanting to be changed back.

Star took a look at Marinette, shrugged, and waved her wand. One bright flash later, there was Chloe, now crumpled up, dirty, and humiliated. The four kids behind her laughed.

"What . . . _what did you just do_?" Chloe hissed.

"Hopefully taught you a valuable lesson," Star said. "You practically asked for it."

"I . . . wha . . . Do you know who I am?" Chloe stood up and brushed herself off, furious that she had been treated with such disrespect.

"No, and I don't care," Star shot back.

"Well, I'm the mayor's daughter, and I am about to make your life a whole lot worse!" Chloe snapped, taking out her cell phone.

"By all means, go ahead," Star continued. "But you'll have a bit of trouble explaining to your father that I used magic on you."

Chloe had finished punching in the numbers, and was about to press CALL when she realized that the new girl had a point. How was she supposed to tell him that she had been transformed into a chicken? Would her father believe her? And even if he did, this girl probably knew a few more spells to get herself out of trouble. Chloe stared at the girl, for the first time in her life, with genuine fear and anger in her eyes.

Realizing that there was nothing she could do, Chloe put her cell phone away and stared at her. "This isn't over!" she declared, pointing a finger at Star. Then, she stormed off, pushing the three boys out of her way as she did so.

"I can't believe you did that," the boy in the hoodie said to Star at last, after Chloe disappeared from view.

"Well, I had to do something," Star said very matter-of-factly. "I wasn't going to take that lying down."

"I think he was talking about what you were doing with your . . .thing," the kid in the green shirt clarified. "What was that?"

"It was magic," Marinette said to the kid.

"Marinette, you know this girl already?" the kid with the headphones asked.

"Of course," Marinette said. "Star, meet my classmates, Max"-the kid with the green shirt waved-"…Kim…"- the kid in the hoodie also waved-"Kimberlee, who is Kim's cousin…"-the other girl smiled a little-"…and Nino." The kid with the headphones said, "'Sup?"

After Star shook hands with each of them, the kid named Nino said, "So Star, how are you able to do what you just did?"

"Her wand's magic," Marinette answered promptly.

"Seriously?" Kim asked, amazed.

"Yup," Star agreed. "I'm a princess from another dimension."

"Fascinating," Kim mused. "Although I must say, Star, you don't look like you're a princess."

Marinette raised an eyebrow. "And what is that supposed to mean?"

"It's just," Kim giggled, "I always imagined you'd be wearing a pink princess gown with lots of frills and a diamond tiara."

Kimberlee sighed. "Honestly, cousin, you can be so insensitive sometimes."

Kim raised his hands in self-defense. "I didn't mean it, okay!"

Star turned to Max. "Is his lid always this off?"

Max flashed her a knowing grin. "You'd be surprised."

Just then, Adrien, Marco, and Alya came running up, wearing looks of surprise on their faces. Alya, in particular, had an expression of mixed shock and amazement.

"Did I. . .did she . . . _did you just use magic on Chloe_?" she asked, half stunned, half impressed. "That must have taken real nerve! I'm amazed she didn't actually call her father!"

"I know, Alya!" Nino replied, equally amazed. Adrien , however, was less than enthused.

"What were you thinking?" he hissed. "It's bad enough that our city is under constant threat of akuma attacks, and now you just had to show off what you could do to Chloe! I'm surprised she didn't label you as another akuma out to get her!"

Marco was totally caught off guard by his statement. "Wait, how do you know about the akuma attacks in this city?"

Silence. Nobody said anything. Even Adrien was surprised at what had come out of his mouth. Marinette was now starting to sweat with worry. She wondered whether it was a matter of time before he connected her to the fact the fact that, as Ladybug, she had to fight off these attacks, or whether he would find out that she was Ladybug.

At last, she forced herself to laugh a loud, fake laugh. "Ha! Ha! Marco, old boy, that's a really good question!" Alya and Star looked at her suspiciously, then shared looks of unspoken agreement. Something was definitely fishy here.

"Is everything okay, Mari?" Nino asked.

"Of course," Marinette dismissed. "Why would you say that?"

"No reason," Star lied. She knew that something was up here with Marinette, and she had a gut feeling that it had something to do with the akumas in the city. But what was it?

"Well," Adrien cut Star and Marco off before either one of them can get a word in edgewise, "it's almost sundown and I don't think I want to keep my father waiting. See you guys at school tomorrow?"

The kids murmured in agreement. As the five of them started to go back to the Agreste estate, Star heard Kim shout, "See ya later, Star!"

"Don't you think it's weird that Adrien would happen to know so much about akumas?" Marco whispered as soon as they were out of the other group's earshot.

"Yeah, I know," Star agreed. "It doesn't make any sense. Not to mention that there appears to be a resemblance between Marinette and Ladybug."

"You really think so?" Marco whispered back.

"Yeah, I do," Star whispered. "I'll tell you all about it when we get back."

* * *

Meanwhile, a few miles away, Ludo and his monsters collapsed onto the ground, exhausted. They had spent the whole day searching the entire city for Star and Marco, to no avail.

"This is hopeless," one of Ludo's men complained. "We're never going to find them at this rate!"

Ludo was about to shut down this remark when suddenly he heard a voice speak to him.

 _I can help you._

He paused, then looked around, confused. Where was the voice coming from?

 _I can help you find what you seek._

There it was, the voice! Where was it going from?

"Does anyone else hear that?" Ludo asked.

"What are you talking about, master?" Buff Toad asked.

"That voice! Does no one else hear it?" Ludo snapped. His minions shook his head.

Ludo was about to yell in frustration when suddenly a small black-and-purple butterfly flew down and rested on his wand. He stared in fascination as the butterfly looked at him curiously, his wand glowing brighter as he did so.

And then the same voice spoke to him a third time.

 _I can help you find the ones you seek. But there is something that you must do for me in return._

Ludo grinned wickedly. "Gentlemen, I believe there is a way that we can find Star and defeat her once and for all!"

 **Hoo boy. Wonder how long it will take for Star and Marco to learn Marinette's and Adrien's secrets.**

 **Stay tuned!**


	6. Secret No More

**In which Star and Marco discover Ladybug's "secret", which should have been OBVIOUS to anyone else in-universe. -_-**

Secret No More

"So what were you saying about the resemblance between Marinette and Ladybug?" Marco asked Star as they prepared to get into bed. On the far side of the room, both Mr. and Mrs. Diaz were already asleep. Mr. Diaz's snores cut through the silence like a chainsaw through wood.

"I'm saying," Star argued, "that the similarities between the two are too great to be merely coincidences. Earlier today, we passed by a Ladybug poster and I noticed both Marinette and Ladybug have the exact same ponytails and the exact same blue hairstyle."

Marco considered the idea. Now that she said it, Ladybug and Marinette's hair styles where surprisingly similar. Furthermore, the mask did cover only the area around the eyes. "Well, now that you mention it, they did look awfully alike," he conceded. "Maybe it's just a coincidence that they have the same hair and choice in hairstyle?"

"It's a little tooooo coincidental if you ask me," Star said, lowering her voice for effect while darting her yes back and forth as if she were inspecting to see if anyone was listening. "And I seem to have noticed that she keeps talking to something in her bag. There has to be something in there. After all, why would she talk to herself?"

"Look," Marco yawned, "it's been a long day, and I gotta go to sleep. You'd better, too, if you want to visit the Champs-Elysees tomorrow. Besides, if Marinette really is Ladybug like you claim, that will give you something to bond over. I mean, you two do love to fight, don't you?"

Star paused. "Yeah," she said slowly, with growing excitement. "I guess we do." She turned around in her bed, too excited to fall asleep. If Marinette really was Ladybug, then it might not be so bad after all.

* * *

At school the next day, all everyone could ever talk about was the battle with the akuma that happened over the weekend and the blonde girl who helped Ladybug and Cat Noir take him down with magic. Except for Marinette, Adrien, their friends from the other day, and Chloe, no one seemed to know who she really was. People started theorizing about how she was able to do that magic.

"Maybe she's an alien from outer space," theorized Nathaniel, who was doing a sketch of the girl.

"Or maybe she's a time traveler from the future," argued a girl named Juleka.

"I heard that her family is descended from a race of intergalactic warriors and that she is here to conquer our world," said a boy named Ivan.

"You really think so?" asked a girl named Rose nervously.

"Well, whoever heard of an alien invasion that actually helped humanity?" countered Ivan's girlfriend, Mylene.

Indeed, the only thing that people would talk about other than the girl was how she had humiliated Chloe in the zoo the other day. This last bit seemed to work a real toll on Chloe's nerves. She had been trying to tell everyone at school that Star was an evil witch who was trying to take over the world, but given how unpopular she was, nobody seemed to believe her. On top of that, she couldn't go through lunch without snapping at anyone who brought up the incident, not even her number two, Sabrina Raincomprix.

"Aw, lighten up, Chloe," Sabrina chuckled after Chloe yelled at her to shut up. "It's not like this is going to mark you for the rest of your life. Besides, it'll all be over soon."

"Are you crazy?!" Chloe shrieked. "Because I'm the mayor's daughter, the _entire freakin' city_ is going to know about this! I deserve better! And if this keeps up, there's gonna be a lot of pain to pay!" She shot scathing looks at Marinette, Alya, Nino, Kim and Max. The girls gave her nervous grins while the boys laughed their socks off.

Chloe growled. As she no longer felt she was in a position to cause trouble, she picked up her bags and stormed away to another table, Sabrina following her obediently like a dog.

"You have to admit," Nino said, wiping a tear of laughter from his eye, "she kinda had it coming for what she did to us."

"I know!" Kim agreed. He still had something of a vendetta against her for humiliating him on Valentine's Day.

"I almost feel sorry for her," Alya chuckled. "Almost."

"Say," Max said after the laughter finally died down, "have you heard from Star and Marco since yesterday?"

"Well, they did say that they were going to the Champs-Elysees today for a photoshoot," Marinette answered. "Why do you ask?"

"Because I just read that someone called Copycat II is headed their way," Max said, showing her his phone. The screen showed another akuma- a girl with shocking blue hair, electric green eyes, and a turquoise and pink dress with an orange circle with a printer symbol in the center and pink stockings- posing with three other girls who looked exactly like her. All four of them were sneering at the camera. Marinette got up and ran to the bathroom.

"Marinette, where you going?" Alya called after her.

"I'll meet you in class!" she called back. She closed the bathroom door, checking to make sure that no one followed her inside.

"TIKKI, SPOTS ON!"

* * *

"Smile, kids!" Mr. Diaz called as he positioned the camera.

Star and Marco got into a goofy pose in front of the Champs-Elysees.

CLICK!

Another pose.

CLICK!

BOOM!

An explosion rocked the area. Both Mr. and Mrs. Diaz turned around to see that an advancing swarm was heading their way. Marco peered at the horizon. An army of . . . _girls_ were heading their way. They all had shocking blue hair and electric green eyes, and wore turquoise and pink dresses with orange circles with printer symbols in the center and pink stockings. They let out long, squeaky, jeering noises as they advanced, causing mayhem and destruction in their wake.

"What are those?" he asked, pointing.

"I don't know, but I'm guessing that someone has been akumatized," Star asked. "Where's Ladybug?"

Sure enough, Ladybug and Cat Noir showed up at that exact same instant, landing in between the two.

"Mom, Dad," Marco said slowly, "you need get out of here."

Mr. and Mrs. Diaz did not object. Without another word, they quickly fled the scene with the evacuating crowd.

"Fighting alongside Ladybug and Star Butterfly?" Cat Noir looked at the two of them, pleased. "I'm in heaven already."

"Oh brother," the two girls groaned. Marco giggled.

One of the akuma copies somersaulted over an abandoned vehicle and did a flying kick at Marco, who countered the assault and swept her away with a karate stance. The other copies headed straight for the remaining three.

"Earthquake sweep!" Star cried. She slammed her wand into the ground and the advancing army fell down as a seismic wave covered the area in front of them.

"Good, that's bought us some time," Ladybug said. "Star, is there a spell for that wand that can help us identify the original?"

Star nodded. "Copy original identify!" A multicolored wave spread through the air. Ladybug noticed one of the akuma copies in the far back turned a dark gray color when the wave went over it.

"That must be the original," she said, turning to the now dark gray copy. "Now we need to get rid of its akuma before it causes any more damage!"

Unfortunately, that proved easier said than done. The copies seemed to have heard, because they stood back up and seemed determined to prevent that from happening. The four of them tried to stand their ground against the copies, but it was just too much. During the fighting, the copies that weren't fighting the quartet had managed to wreck the monument, turning it into nothing more than stone rubble. The copies that were fighting Ladybug and Star managed to back them into two large boulders that served as the supports for the now-wrecked monument. Cat Noir, after defeating the copies that were fighting him, turned to face the two and smirked.

"Girls," he quipped, "have I told you two that you 'rock' my world?" He and Marco laughed at the joke. Star, however, let out an annoyed sigh and rolled her eyes, while Ladybug facepalmed.

"How do you put up with this guy?" Star asked Ladybug.

"I just tune him out whenever he hits on me. Or makes a bad pun," Ladybug shrugged.

Star blinked. "That's it?" she asked in a completely deadpan tone.

Ladybug opened her mouth to respond, but one of the copies made to karate chop her. She sidestepped, and the copy missed. At that moment, a pink butterfly mask lit up, and Ladybug knew what was happening all too well: Hawk Moth was communicating with her, telling her to remove her Miraculous. Knowing she had only minutes before she was overrun, she activated her superpower. "LUCKY CHARM!" The yoyo revealed a manhole cover. As Cat Noir fought off all the attacking clones, Ladybug made another connection. "Star! See if you can use your wand to destroy the akuma with this!" She tossed the manhole over to Star, who levitated it with her wand and swung toward the dark grey copy. The manhole cover bounced off the symbol on the akuma's dress and flew straight back into Ladybug's hands. The akuma fell down on its back, and the purple-black butterfly flew out of it, while the akumatized victim reverted to its regular form. As Ladybug captured the butterfly and purified it, the copies disappeared. She threw the cover into the air and the red wave fixed everything, restoring the monument.

"You know," Star started, looking around after everything had been fixed, "you two look awfully familiar."

She knew at once that she had Ladybug and Cat Noir trapped, for she could she sweat starting to appear on both of their faces.

"No, no, you must be mistaken," Ladybug chuckled nervously. "We certainly don't look like your friends."

Star stared back at her. Should she believe her?

Suddenly, Ladybug's earrings flashed, which thankfully provided her with an excuse to get out of dodge. She threw her yoyo at a nearby building, and jumped away. Cat Noir seemed to be in a bit of a hurry too, for he also jumped over the building ledge to follow Ladybug.

"WAIT!" Star called. She had so many questions for them. But they did not seem to want to stick around to answer them.

There was only one thing that she could do. She closed her eyes and held up her wand.

" _I summon the all-seeing eye,_

 _To tear a hole into the sky,_

 _Reveal to me that which is hidden,_

 _Unveil to me what is forbidden_."

The wand released a circular projection into the sky. It showed Ladybug hiding behind some kind of hallway wall in a building, obviously checking to see that no one was around. As soon as the coast was clear, she said, "Spots off!" Immediately, she transformed back into . . .

"Marinette?" came Marco's voice, confused.

Star turned to face him. "Yep," she said. "And I'll bet my wand that if anything, Adrien is Cat Noir."

Silence. Marco tried to process this new information. At last, a smile formed on his face. "This is AWESOME!" he said giddily. "That would explain a lot, like why I have crushes on both Ladybug and Marinette, because they were the same person!"

"Yeah," smiled Star weakly. "But what I don't get is, why would she hide this from us? I mean, we're her friends, we could keep any secret she told us, so why would she not want us to know about this?"

"Well," Marco said, "superheroes usually don't like to reveal their secret identities, similar to how in actual comics, they prefer to have a double life. Let's go."

Unfortunately, at that moment, vans of reporters came up and started swarming around the pair. Marco and Star had to fight off questions directed at them as they tried to make their escape.

"Are you two superheroes?"

"Will you two be working alongside Cat Noir and Ladybug?"

"Why don't you have masks?"

"What do you do when you two aren't superhero-ing?"

Seeing no end to the barrage of questions and publicity, Marco motioned to Star, who nodded and cast a cloud of smoke with her wand, enabling them to get away undetected. As soon as they were certain that they weren't being followed, Marco turned to her again.

"Wow. Folks are a lot more curious about magic around here than they are back home," he said.

"Yeah. Weird," she agreed.

* * *

Hawk Moth stood in the darkness of the room, watching in silent fury as his window closed itself. Once again, the negative emotions were too small to take advantage of, though this time, he had a clearer picture of who he would be dealing with: A boy named Marco Diaz and a girl named Star Butterfly.

He sensed movement coming from behind him.

"I see my messenger has successfully reached you," he said, turning around to see who he was dealing with: a short grayish-green bird-like monster with yellow eyes and fanged dark gray beak wearing a skull-like crown and wielding what appeared to be a wand.

"Yes," the monster said. "How did you know where I was? And who are you?"

Hawk Moth's lips formed into a smile. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Hawk Moth, keeper of the Moth Miraculous. I was able to find you by sensing the strong aura of negative energy around you and your fellows. The reason I contacted you is that I believe that a mutual alliance will benefit us both. And you are?"

"Ludo," the monster said. "My name is Ludo."

"Welcome, Ludo, to my humble abode," Hawk Moth introduced courteously. "Now tell me, what is it that you desire?"

Ludo paused. "I wish to destroy Star Butterfly and seize the kingdom of Mewni from her. And I also plan on doing away with that no-good Marco Diaz. What about you?"

"I only seek two things, the Ladybug and Cat Miraculouses," Hawk Moth said simply.

Ludo looked at him in confusion. "What are these . . . Miraculouses of which you speak?"

"They are ancient jewels that bestow power to the user," Hawk Moth said. "I seek the Ladybug and Cat Miraculouses because together, they bestow the wearer unlimited power."

Ludo smiled wickedly. "It's a deal, then. I help you get the Miraculouses, you help me and my men destroy Star Butterfly."

"Actually, I think we should put the girl to good use first," Hawk Moth said. "After I use her to get the jewels, you and your men can do with her what you will. And there is also one other thing that I want you to help me retrieve when the time comes."

"Just say the word and we will be on our way. What else should we get for you?" Ludo asked.

Hawk Moth paused. "My son."

 **Uh oh. Hawk Moth has a son?**

 **Wonder who it is?**

 **And I wonder what Star and Marco plan to do now that they know Ladybug and Cat Noir's secret identities.**

 **Stay tuned for more!**

 **(By the way, if a certain 19jonesy/Jonesy is reading this, Buff Toad is NOT Buff Frog. They're two completely different people. As for whether Star will get akumatized, we'll have to find out. And if so, her akuma form would be similar to her Mewberty form, but not entirely the same.)**


	7. Meeting Tikki

**What's this? A musical number? Sure! Why not?**

Meeting Tikki

Marinette sighed as she stumbled out of the detention hall hours later. She could not believe that she had missed a great deal of class time. Cleaning up the damage at the Champs-Elysees should not have taken that long. And then there was the fact that Star was suspicious of the fact that she was Ladybug ...

"Marinette, what if Star and Marco have already found out who you really are?" Tikki squeaked worriedly.

"I hope they haven't connected the dots, Tikki," Marinette said grimly. "The way that Star was talking to us, it sounded like she already did."

They continued their way out of the school and crossed the street to the bakery. They opened the door and went up the stairs to her room when Marco and Star opened the door to their room.

"Marinette, can you help us with something?" Marco asked.

Marinette sighed. She had been afraid of this. This was the moment where her identity as Ladybug would be revealed. Resigning herself to the inevitable, she went into the room and closed the door. There sat Star and Marco on the bed, as her parents were working down below and the Diazes had obviously gone to take more pictures. "What is it?" Marinette groaned.

"We need a bit of help," Marco said. "After we battled some akumas at the Champs-Elysees, we got some unwanted attention by the press."

"The press?" Marinette's expression changed from one of weariness to that of confusion.

"Yeah. Apparently, they think we're Ladybug and Cat Noir's sidekicks," Marco answered. "They even think that we're superheroes."

"That's nothing," Marinette chuckled. "You should have been at my school today. All the kids there only want to talk about you two and how you battled the akuma with Ladybug and Cat Noir over the weekend."

"Can you help us find a way to lay low until this dies down?" Marco asked imploringly.

Marinette pondered. At last, she came up with a solution. "Wait here, you two," she said. She left the room and ran upstairs.

"Marinette, where are you going?" Tikki asked.

"I need something that will disguise, like a trench coat or jacket," Marinette answered, frantically searching her old clothes and unused fashion ideas. At last, she seemed to have stumbled upon something: a long, brown, used trench coat and a derby hat that she once submitted in a contest. "Perfect!" she beamed.

She went downstairs and opened the door, presenting both to Marco. "This oughta keep you disguised for some time," she said. "And Star, you have a spell that can change your appearance, right?"

"Well," Star said slowly, "I should, but I have to go check and see."

"Thanks," said Marco. "Now, I want to ask you something: How long have you been Ladybug?"

Marinette's heart beat faster; this was exactly what she was afraid of. "W-What do you mean?"

"Don't kid us, Mari." Marco got up. "We figured out your secret identity a long time ago."

"How long have you known?" Marinette asked fearfully.

"For a few hours," Marco said. "Star brought up how there was a resemblance between you and the insect-themed superhero, and we kinda put two and two together from there."

"You're not going to tell anyone, are you?" Marinette asked worriedly.

"No, of course not," Star said. "But we're a bit disappointed that you haven't confided in us."

"I'm sorry," Mari said. "But no one else should know."

"Another thing, who do you keep talking to in your bag?" Star asked.

Marinette sighed. There was no point in keeping up the charade any longer. "It's over, Tikki. Come on out. No point in hiding." Realizing that her cover was blown, Tikki flew out of Marinette's pouch and turned to Marco and Star.

"Awww," cooed Star. "Who are you?"

"Star, Marco, this is . . . Tikki," Marinette introduced, saying the last word as if it were painful to do so. "She's the source of my abilities as Ladybug."

"Hi, Tikki," Marco said softly.

"Hi, Marco. Hi Star," Tikki said, rather shyly.

"So Marinette," Star said, "how come we haven't seen Tikki when we first came here?"

"Well," Marinette said, "when I first got Tikki, she told me that nobody must ever know that I had a kwami."

"Did she say why, though?" Marco asked, totally fascinated by the ladybug spirit in front of him.

Marinette paused. "Come to think of it, not really. In fact, now that you say it, I don't know why I need to keep it a secret. Although, to be safe, I still shouldn't tell anyone else, because if Hawk Moth ever found out who I was, then everybody else would be in danger."

"Well, you'd better spill the beans soon," Marco said. "Because if people find out that you're Ladybug and you never told them, then they might not be as forgiving as we are."

"I guess," Marinette conceded. "I'll see if I can."

"So," Star bounced in front of Marinette, positively excited about the prospect of another action girl, "how long have you been fighting akumas as Ladybug? Who's Cat Noir's kwami? Is it true that Adrien is Cat Noir? And do you have a crush on Adrien?"

"I've been fighting akumas for quite some time," Marinette answered. "And I don't know who Cat Noir really is. And wait, you know I have a crush on him?"

"Hello! Of course! The stuttering, the dreamy look in your eyes, the way you look at him when he is near you, those clearly show that you are in love with him!" Star continued. "I should know! Because Marco had those same expressions on his face when he had a crush on Jackie Lynn Thomas!"

Now it was Marco's turn to sour his expression. He was pretty sure Star didn't know, but ever since day one of the trip, he had feelings for Marinette which she had yet to reciprocate. And as far as he was aware, Star didn't have feelings for him. The last he checked, she was into that Oskar Greason dude. Sure, he had feelings for Jackie Lynn Thomas, but that was a _long_ time ago. Come to think of it, she hadn't contacted him in a while asking him to hang out with him.

"Aw, thanks," Marinette blushed. "But I don't think I stand a chance with him."

"You never know unless you try, girl," Star smiled.

"Yeah, I guess," Marinette agreed.

"Well," said Marco, who saw his chance to make his move, "if you want, I could show you a few karate moves that my sensei taught me. That way, the next time you fight an akuma, you won't have to rely on your yoyo all the time."

Marinette paused to consider this. "That's actually a pretty good idea. Maybe after I finish my homework, we can get to practice." Star frowned a little. "Besides, I could use a little expertise where hand to hand combat is concerned. Care to show me?"

"For you, milady, I would," Marco said, bowing courteously to her.

And so, Marco, Marinette, and Tikki left the room, leaving Star all alone.

 **Star** :

 _There is only one thing these types of feelings can bring_

 _Unbridled jealousy, am I right?_

 _It's kind of sad to see he hasn't yet noticed me_

 _But I'm not giving up without a fight_

 _Marco has feelings for Mari like he did for Jackie_

 _I wonder if he knows what I feel_

 _But I can only say that I hope he knows one day_

 _That my feelings for him are real_

 _It's a good thing I'm here, I will always be near_

 _This boy that I secretly love_

 _And with all of our might, we will make it through the night_

 _He's the boy that I secretly love_

 _If you never know it's true, I'll be there for you_

 _You're the boy that I secretly love_

 _But what would you do if you knew that was true?_

 _That's why I so secretly love you_

She sighed, hoping that one day, Marco realized that she was meant for him.

* * *

Plagg lay on the sofa, groaning weakly. He had never experienced something like this before. What was it? Adrien entered the room to find him curling up in a ball on the sofa. He smirked.

"Let me guess, you ate too much camembert?" he asked, smirking a little.

"Hahaha-no," Plagg remarked. "I felt a deep spiritual disturbance happen."

Adrien sat down on the sofa next to his kwami. "What do you mean?" he asked, the humor entirely gone.

"I felt . . . as if something . . . weird has happened," Plagg explained. "As if someone had revealed my very existence to the world."

Adrien sat down, concerned. This was trouble indeed. He remembered the words that Plagg had spoken on the issue the first time they met each other.

 _Your father must never know that I exist, or anyone for that matter._

That was one of the few times Plagg had been serious about anything. Adrien said, "Well, don't worry about me, because I never revealed anything to anyone."

"I know. But it doesn't necessarily have to be you," Plagg said. "We kwamis are all strongly spiritually linked. As long as someone else has a kwami, all they have to do is reveal that kwami's existence to outsiders, causing an imbalance in spiritual harmony."

Adrien pondered this idea. This was very troubling indeed. "Who should we talk to about matters like these?"

"Master Fu," Plagg said weakly.

"Who's that?" Adrien asked curiously.

"Ancient spiritual master," Plagg answered. "Lives at 896 E. Sycamore Street. He'll be able to help us, and hopefully find a solution to this problem."

"Okay," Adrien said, getting up. He put Plagg in his pocket and made to get ready to go there. But a voice stopped him dead in his tracks before he even reached the front door.

"Where do you think you are going, Adrien?"

Adrien froze, then turned around. His father, Gabriel Agreste, stood there at the top of the stairs, eyeing his son with mild disapproval. Once he was a much warmer and friendlier man, but that had been when his wife was still alive. Now father and son were emotionally distant to each other; even though they were in the same house, it felt as though they were on opposite sides of the world.

"Father, I just need to visit someone for a few minutes," Adrien implored. "It's urgent business."

"Absolutely not," his father snapped. "You'll stay here where your bodyguard, Natalie, and I can keep an eye on you. Then you have Chinese lessons in an hour."

"Please, father," Adrien was practically begging now. "It's important."

Silence. Neither party spoke. Only the quiet _tick-tock_ of the clock could be heard. At last, Gabriel sighed. "All right. I'm letting you go just this once. But be sure to be back within an hour."

"Thank you, father," Adrien sighed with relief. He opened the door and ran out of the estate entrance. As soon as his son was out of sight, Gabriel allowed himself a thin smile.

Because he knew exactly what his son was up to.

 **So apparently Marco was wrong about how Star felt about him. Who knew?**

 **Up next, prepare for something BIG** **next chapter. That's all I'm going to say.**


	8. Star Gets Akumatized

**This is it! The moment we've all been waiting for . . .**

Star Gets Akumatized

The next day was one of the most eventful in Marco and Marinette's lives and the most frustrating in Star's. She could only watch from the sidelines in envy as the pair spent more and more time together. Marco managed to teach Marinette a few basic strikes as well as some higher level moves, which, amazingly, Marinette was able to achieve. Unable to tell either of them how she felt at the moment, Star tried diverting her attention by practicing spells from her spellbook. Eventually, when that grew tiresome, she called up Pony Head and tried to vent all her frustrations out on her.

"Girl, if you really have strong feelings for the Earth turd," Pony Head said, "you should just tell him."

"Pony Head, I can't," Star sighed. "Not when he's in love with a famous superhero. And call me crazy, but I think that Mari is starting to have feelings for him too."

"B-Fly, you do realize that at some point, you're going to have to tell him, right?" Pony Head said.

"I know," Star begrudgingly admitted. "I just need to find out when."

In addition to taking the karate lessons, Marinette had started introducing the pair to some of her other classmates, many of whom had heard about them, especially Star. In just that day, Marco and Star had shaken hands with an aspiring artist named Nathaniel, the spirited and athletic Alix, a gold-haired girl named Rose, her dark-haired counterpart Juleka, a tough but sensitive boy named Ivan, and his girlfriend Mylene.

"You guys are like, so cool," said Juleka, after Marco told her all about the interdimensional adventures he had with Star. "I wish I could have gone with you."

"Aw, thanks," Marco chuckled. "I'm sure you would have enjoyed."

"That's so awesome," said Nathaniel, who evidently got an eyeful of Star's wand. "Where did you get that?"

"It was passed down from my ancestors," Star said, glad for something to take her mind off the Marco/Marinette pairing. "It's a family heirloom."

"Ooh, like my family watch?" Alix answered, now taking a keen interest in the wand. "I got it on my fifteenth birthday."

"Yeah," said Star. "You can say that."

All the while, Marco's attraction for Marinette grew. This did not go unnoticed by Tikki, who went up to him that same afternoon and gave him some life-changing advice as he was slurping down lemonade.

"Marco," the ladybug kwami chirped, "if you really like Marinette that much, you should ask her out."

Marco spat out his drink. "Y-you really think so?"

"I do," Tikki said. "I saw the way you look at her. And it wouldn't hurt to ask her out. She's one of the nicest girls out there."

"Tikki, how do you think that she would react?"

"Well, I think that she would be very touched that someone actually cares about her that much," the ladybug kwami smiled.

Marco considered. Marinette really did seem like a nice girl. And besides, he didn't have to worry about Jackie now that they have broken up. Marinette, on the other hand, seemed to have a thing for Adrien. Still, it wouldn't hurt to try.

"You know what? You're right, Tikki," Marco said. "I will give it a shot."

"That's the spirit!" Tikki chirped happily. "I'm sure she wouldn't mind!"

The two of them failed to notice that Star was listening in on their conversation, wearing a jealous expression on her face.

* * *

That night, Marco had a vivid dream. He was kneeling over the edge of a cliff, desperately holding onto Star's hand, a panicked expression on his face. The winds were blowing fast and hard, flapping the hood of his sweatshirt against his head.

"Marco!" Star cried desperately. "Don't let me go!"

"Hang on, Star!" Marco struggled to lift Star up. Using all his energy, he tried to bring her back up. She was going to make it . . .

 _CRACK!_

Something appeared behind him. Marco turned around to see who it was.

It was a man wearing a silver mask and a purple dress shirt, along with a pair of black pants. In the center of his shirt's collar, there was a dark purple brooch with four pink strands of fabric that made it resemble a butterfly. He held an indigo cane in his right hand. His face bore an expression of cruel amusement.

"Why not let her go?" the man asked jeeringly. "Let her die, and you can stop all that I have in store for her!"

"Never!" Marco shouted. "I'll never let her go!"

At this statement, Star looked genuinely touched at this. With Marco's assistance, she struggled to get back up. She was going to make it . . .

 _CRACK!_

A lightning bolt struck the ground in front of Marco where Star was about to step on. The entire ledge gave way, and it cracked and broke apart.

"Star!" Marco screamed. "NO!"

"MARCO! HELP ME!"

Star held out her hand, hoping that Marco would miraculously save her from her doom. Marco made a move to grab it, but the man grabbed both of his hands and forced them behind his back. Star screamed as she fell into the abyss below, never to return.

Marco stood there, dazed, unable to comprehend the situation. What had just happened? He watched there, helpless to do anything. At last, he gathered up his courage and turned to face the man, his fists balled up.

"What did you do to her?" he asked the man, rage shaking in his voice.

The man laughed, a laugh devoid of any warmth or mirth. "Soon, boy," he whispered. Then, another crack resounded, and the man disappeared almost instantaneously, leaving the poor boy all alone.

* * *

"Marco?"

Marco opened his eyes groggily. That was some doozy of a dream. He couldn't even think straight at the moment. When his vision realigned itself, Marinette was staring at him curiously.

"You okay?" she asked.

Marco groaned. "I'm fine. Where's Star?"

"She's downstairs making breakfast," Marinette assured him, sitting down.

"Good," Marco said. "Because I had this weird dream last night."

"What was it?" Marinette asked.

"I was standing on the edge of a cliff, trying to help Star up, when all of a sudden, this man literally comes out of nowhere and forces me to let go of her. And I was helpless to do anything but watch her fall to her doom. What do you think it means?"

Marinette paused to ponder this. "I don't know," she said slowly. "I'll say, however, that we shouldn't be _that_ worried about her. If she can stand up to Chloe and still live to see the sun, she'll be able to handle anything that's thrown her way."

"Yeah, you're right," Marco chuckled. "I guess I didn't have to worry about anything."

"I'm glad that's the case," Marinette smiled. "Come on down, or you'll miss pancakes." She turned around to go down to the kitchen.

"Wait, Marinette, I want to ask you something."

She turned around. "Yes?"

"Would you like to . . . oh, I don't know, hang out this afternoon, after your other stuff has been taken care of?"

She smiled warmly at him. "Sure, if there is time after my homework and our lessons, we can hang out. Now please come downstairs."

Marco's cheeks reddened with color. He literally could not believe that Marinette had agreed to hang out with him. His legs shaking, he got up and woozily went down the stairs.

He was officially the luckiest boy in the world.

* * *

It was the late afternoon. Marinette, Tikki, and Marco were strolling (or in Tikki's case, _floating_ ) through the park. Marinette stared at Marco, a new feeling taking root in her emotions. What was it? Could it be that she . . . was starting to have feelings for him?

 _Nah, of course not,_ she assured herself. _The only one I have feelings for is Adrien._ Even so, she could not deny that she saw a lot of herself in Marco, not to mention that they had a lot in common. Whereas she was starting to accept that Adrien was completely out of her league.

"So," she started, "what do you normally do when you and Star aren't fighting monsters?"

"Oh, that?" Marco asked. "We're usually battling everyday high school experiences and going on your typical misadventures. For example, one time, Star invited a few of our friends for a sleepover at my place and we played this game of Truth or Punishment."

"Don't you mean Truth or Dare?" Marinette asked.

"No, I'm not kidding, it was called Truth or Punishment," Marco answered. "There was this weird cube that asked us three questions, and we had to answer them truthfully, or else we would suffer various punishments."

"Yikes," Tikki said. Marco nodded.

"Yep," he said. "One of the questions the cube asked us was: 'Who do you have a crush on?' I answered, 'Jackie Lynn Thomas', while Star answered, 'Oskar Greason'."

"Oskar Greason?" Marinette was confused. "Who's that?"

"Some bad boy at my school," said Marco dismissively. "Apparently he has 'a record'. Star's got a thing for bad boys."

"That's . . . surprising," said Marinette truthfully. She was partially relieved that she wasn't a part of that game, or else the whole world would have known about her crush on Adrien.

"That's nothing," Marco continued. "Her ex just so happens to be a Demon Prince of the Underworld."

"What's his name?" Tikki asked.

Marco paused. "Tom," he said at last, with some revulsion in his voice.

Both Tikki and Marinette giggled. They both found it hard to believe that a Demon Monarch would have to have a name so . . . ordinary. "Well," Marinette continued, "we should be glad that he is not here."

"You and me both, sisters," Marco agreed.

"Yeah. What about Jackie Lynn Thomas? What was she like? Star told me she was your ex or something," Marinette continued.

Marco sighed. He sat down on a park bench, wishing that she didn't bring up the subject. Those three words were enough to have his heart break open in anguish. "She was . . . okay," he admitted. "We were an item for a few months, but then things weren't working out, so we agreed to see other people for some time. Ever since then, she's been hanging out with some boy she met at skate camp."

Marinette sat down beside him. She felt a bit sorry for the boy. "Well, I don't claim to be an expert as far as love is concerned, but it's probably for the best that you aren't seeing her right now. Besides, sometimes, you don't know what you think. Your head and your heart disagree. You think you know how you feel about something-"

"-but then it changes," they finished in unison. They looked at each other, not saying a word, then burst out into laughter. It was like they knew each other so well.

"You know?" Marinette asked, after the laughter died down.

"Of course," Marco beamed. "I remember Star saying those exact words at the sleepover."

"You know, I wouldn't be surprised if you and Star became an item in the future," Marinette said. "It's like you two are the yin to each other's yang."

"Thanks, Mari, but there's something I have to tell you," Marco said.

"Well?" Marinette said. "What is it?" Tikki smiled; she knew exactly what he was about to say.

"Ever since I first met you, from the day we encountered each other after you saved me from the flame-throwing akuma, I've . . . I've had a crush on you!" he blurted out, itching to get it out.

Marinette sat there, not knowing what to say. At last, she started, "Marco, what you just did right now, that was one of the bravest things you've ever done."

"Really?" Marco blushed, hardly believing that she had just praised him.

"Sure," Marinette said. "You're the first guy I've met who's had a crush on me and admitted it. I've had two other guys who have had crushes on me, but couldn't just spit it out. Nathaniel had a crush on me before you did, but he got akumatized into the Evilustrator before he had the chance. As for Nino, he was this close to blurting it out, but he ended up with Alya instead."

"Courtesy of Animan," Marco added. The two of them laughed again, then turned to face the setting sun.

It was the most magical moment of their lives. Marco turned to Marinette. "Mari?"

"Yeah, Marco?" she said.

"Have you heard of something called the Blood Moon?"

"No. Why?"

"Legend says that the couple who is under the light of the blood moon will have their souls conjoined forever."

"Conjoined how?"

And then the most surprising thing happened. Marco leaned in closer to Marinette and kissed her. Marinette paused, stunned, unable to do anything as Marco kissed her full on the lips. She slowly relaxed, feeling as if she had been slowly relieved of ten tons of tension. It truly was the best feeling in the world. At that moment, she didn't care if she wanted to be with Adrien; right now, all that mattered was that she was with Marco. Almost nothing could shatter her happiness right now.

 _Almost_ nothing.

Standing against the backdrop of the Parisian sunset stood Star Butterfly, holding her wand and wearing an expression of extreme heartbreak on her face. Marinette stopped kissing Marco. "Star!" she called, smiling nervously. "What are you doing here?" Marco turned around, a look of surprise on his face as he saw his best friend in the distance.

"Uh oh," Tikki muttered to herself.

Star did not answer, but instead turned around and started walking away, evidently heartbroken over seeing Marco with another girl. Marco and Marinette ran up to catch up with her.

"Star! You okay?" Marco asked, concerned.

"I'm fine," Star lied, sniffing loudly.

"Don't you want to hang out with us?" Marinette added, desperately trying to cheer her up. "Marco, Tikki, and I wanted some alone time, but if you want, we can . . ."

"I'm fine," Star repeated, louder this time; and to drive the point home, she raised her wand and conjured up a big cloud of smoke that obscured Marco and Marinette's path. When it cleared, Star was gone. Marco and Marinette looked at each other, wondering if they did anything wrong.

Meanwhile, Star continued to roam the streets of Paris, lost and confused over what she had seen. It was like seeing him with Jackie Lynn Thomas all over again. She hadn't been this upset since she lost the spellbook to Ludo in the graveyard where Bon Bon was buried a few months ago.

Lost in her own misery, she failed to notice that she had bumped into someone- a big, whiny, annoying someone.

"Hey!" came the sound of Chloe Bourgeois's voice. "Watch where you are going, you witch!"

Star got up, and without looking back, cast a raincloud spell over Chloe, creating a raincloud that began to rain heavily down on her.

"My hair!" Chloe shrieked as she ran off, covering her head. "MY HAIR!"

Star got up and continued walking slowly, hanging her head down as she did so. She decided that she was going to spend the rest of vacation in her room, completely cut off from the outside world. She turned around sadly, moaned in grief, and resumed walking back.

Could this night get any worse?

* * *

"This is the opening I've been waiting for," Hawk Moth declared victoriously, as his window opened wide once more. "Star Butterfly has been blown off by the one she has had a crush on and is now at her lowest, making her a prime target for my perfect little akumas!"

"Dude," Ludo's voice interrupted suddenly, "who are you talking to? You look weird when you do that."

Hawk Moth turned around furiously to face Ludo and his men, who were staring back at him, confused. He felt his cheeks blush underneath his mask.

"I . . . _never you mind!_ " Hawk Moth shouted. "Just get ready for when the victims arrive!"

Ludo blinked, then shrugged. "If you say so." He and his men turned around and left.

Now that he was alone in the room once more, Hawk Moth summoned a butterfly to his left palm and covered it with his right hand. Dark energy collected itself on the butterfly, which Hawk Moth released as it flew out of the window.

"Fly away, my wicked akuma, AND EVILIZE HER!"

* * *

Star sighed as she sadly walked back to the bakery. She didn't want to stay here any longer. She wanted to go back to Echo Creek so that she could forget about all this.

Or better yet, back to _Mewni_.

She took out her wand and went through the old photographs of her and Marco in better times: the Blood Moon Ball, all those times they fought monsters together, eating Marco's homemade nachos . . .

 _Were they all lies?_ She thought sadly. _I should have let him know how I felt about him from the get go. This is just like when he was with Jackie. I know I should feel happy for him, but I can't._

After browsing through all the photos, she sighed again and stuffed the wand in her back pocket and continued walking back.

Unaware that a small black-and-purple butterfly was following her.

The butterfly dissipated and entered her wand. Instantly, Star froze and felt something ignite, and before she knew it, she was looking at a man covered with a silver mask and wearing a dark purple dress shirt with a black butterfly-shaped lapel, a dark purple button with four light pink fabric strands resembling butterfly wings on the collar's center, and black dress pants. The man had a pink butterfly-shaped outline above his face and around his eyes. He was wearing a grin that preceded trouble.

"Green-Eyed Butterfly," the masked man said, "I am Hawk Moth. I offer you the chance to be with the one you love, but there is something I expect in return."

An evil smile formed on Star's lips.

" _Yes, Hawk Moth._ "

 **Oh boy. Things are going to get real now.**

 **And yes, I did have Marco kiss Marinette. I regret nothing. *giggles evilly***


	9. The Green-Eyed Butterfly

**I hope you** **are ready to meet Star's akuma form.**

The Green-Eyed Butterfly

"Where do you think Star went?" Marco asked Marinette worriedly. Both of them had expected her to be back at the bakery at the very least.

"No idea," Marinette admitted.

"I hope she hasn't been akumatized," Marco continued. "She seemed very upset about what we've been doing."

"Well, we'd better find her before that happens," Marinette agreed, shuddering. If Star really did become an akuma, then there was no telling how much destruction she would be able to cause. The pair continued to walk down the street, their minds spinning with one question: Where was Star?

Then a bloodcurdling shriek shattered the evening air.

" _ **MARCO DIAZ!"**_

A dark shadow swept overhead, and next thing Marco knew, he ended up in a trash pile on the corner of the street. When Marco got up to see what had attacked him, a horrific sight met his eyes.

It was a creature that looked so much like Star, and yet . . . it wasn't. Its eyes were a solid pastel green and brimming with hatred. It had dark gray skin and wore black and purple clothing. It had blushes designed like broken hearts, and its now-dark hair was styled up into a bun on either side. It had giant black butterfly wings with intricate purple designs. It was carrying a black-and-red something in its right hand: an instrument that looked like Star's wand-if the bird wing design changed to bat wings and the star-shaped wand crystal became skull-shaped.

And a horrific realization swept through Marco. _It's Star's wand! She's been akumatized!_

"S-Star?" Marco asked meekly.

" **There is no Star,"** the creature grunted. **"There is only the Green-Eyed Butterfly!"** With a lunge, it reached straight for Marco, who ducked and made a mad dash for the bakery.

"Marco!" Marinette called. "Hold on!" The Butterfly must have evidently heard, because it pointed its wand at Marinette and roared, " _ **SYRUP TSUNAMI SHOCKWAVE!"**_ A tidal wave of brown sticky liquid came out of the creature's wand, engulfing everything in its path. Marinette and Tikki ducked into an alleyway, barely avoiding the syrup storm that the creature aimed at them.

Meanwhile, Marco ran into the bakery and, panting for breath, saw Marinette's parents behind the counter, both of whom had worried expressions on their faces.

"Marco?" Mrs. Cheng asked. "Is everything alright?"

"Star . . . akumatized," Marco wheezed, "the Green . . . Eyed Butterfly . . . Marinette . . . attacked . . . need . . . help . . ."

Both parents shared looks of worry. It was clear that their daughter was being attacked by one of her guests, who was now this . . . supernatural being.

"Just get upstairs as quickly as possible," Mr. Dupain calmly instructed. "And try to stay hidden until she-"

Outside another roar sounded. Marco gave Marinette's parents one last look of fright, then bolted up the stairs leading from the bakery.

* * *

From his lair, Hawk Moth was laughing maniacally. The chaos that was unfolding was all too rich.

"Perfect!" he declared. "It won't be long now before Ladybug and Cat Noir show up to meet their doom!"

He continued to laugh madly. Ludo, who was observing the whole thing from behind the door, turned to the camera and twirled his finger near his temple.

* * *

Meanwhile in the alleyway, Marinette brushed off the residual syrup that had gotten onto her clothes. Out in the streets, the Green-Eyed Butterfly continued to roar as she attempted to grab Marco.

"Tikki, what are we going to do?" she asked worriedly. "Star has fallen under Hawk Moth's control, and she'll end up hurting Marco!"

"You'll find a way, Marinette! I'm sure of it!" Tikki chirped.

"I hope so," Marinette said. Roars continued to pierce the background, and a flash of light would occasionally show up to indicate that the akuma was using its wand. "TIKKI, SPOTS ON!"

She transformed into Ladybug, and jumped to the floor where the Butterfly was situated. Ladybug threw her yoyo at the akuma, but the attack had very little effect, though she did succeed in grabbing its attention.

"Star!" Ladybug cried. "Please don't do this! I know you're mad at both Marco and me, but that doesn't mean that you have to take it out on either of us!"

Almost immediately, Hawk Moth's butterfly mask lit up.

" _Don't listen to that traitor! Seize her Miraculous! Her powers belong to me!"_

The Butterfly glared at her. " **Nice try, Mari,"** it growled. " _ **MEGA STARFISH TSUNAMI!**_ **"** Instantly, a large, thundering rush of ocean water and starfish came over Ladybug, who let go of the building ledge she was holding to and fell to the ground. Only by hanging onto a lower ledge by her yoyo was she able to avoid hitting the road.

Meanwhile, Marco ran through the Dupain-Cheng apartment, frantically searching for a pocket to hide himself from the wrath of the monster who was once his best friend. As he desperately searched, he started to get the feeling that he was responsible for Star's akumatization.

Unfortunately, he didn't have enough time to dwell on the subject. The side of the apartment broke open, and a long gray arm extended itself to find him, followed by the same pair of hateful green eyes. The creature roared, clearly out for revenge against him.

Before Marco could react, the Butterfly grabbed him. Marco squealed in fright, and, black wings flapping vigorously, the monster took off holding him in its hands. He did his best not to look down; he could tell that they were quickly reaching dizzying heights.

The butterfly mask lit up again.

" _Change of plans, Green-Eyed Butterfly. Bring the boy here."_

 _That voice sounded awfully familiar,_ Marco thought to himself. But where had he heard it? He was starting to have difficulty breathing. They were flying . . . higher . . . higher . . .

And suddenly, the Butterfly jerked downward. Marco looked down and saw that Ladybug and Cat Noir were hanging onto its right leg by Ladybug's yoyo. He sighed with relief; they were going to save him!

"Thanks for the ride!" Cat Noir quipped. He jumped up and attempted to hit the Butterfly with his stick. But the Butterfly was ready. It aimed its wand at him and roared, " _ **RAINBOW FIST PUNCH!"**_ The wand release a multitude of rainbow-colored fists, all of which Cat dodged relatively easily. He landed on the Butterfly's back and began hitting it rapidly. The Butterfly roared in pain.

"Careful!" Marco chided Cat Noir. "You'll hurt her!"

"Her?" Cat Noir asked, confused. "What do you mean, 'her'?"

Marco opened his mouth to answer, but all of a sudden, the Butterfly took a sharp dive and began to descend very rapidly. Both Ladybug and Cat Noir held on for dear life as the creature attempted to shake both of them off.

" **GET . . .** _ **OFF OF ME!**_ **"** the Butterfly roared. It thrashed wildly, furiously trying to get them off its back, until, at last, it managed to buck Cat Noir off its back. The poor kitty screamed as he fell to the ground. Ladybug, torn between holding onto the Butterfly and saving Cat Noir, reluctantly decided to let go of the creature in order to save him. As she fell rapidly, she saw a telephone pole in the distance, far below Cat Noir. She threw her yoyo at the pole, which secured the string, and reeled herself in, grabbing Cat Noir by the hand as she did so. The pair landed safely on top of a roadway near the edge of the city.

"Thanks for the rescue," Cat Noir said to Ladybug, uncharacteristically matter-of-fact. Ladybug noted the lack of humor in his voice and could tell at once that this akuma was unlike anything they had ever faced before.

"Where did she go?" Ladybug asked, now nervous. For the first time ever, she and Cat Noir had failed to subdue an akuma. And even worse, unlike the other akumas, this particular akuma was in possession of a immensely powerful weapon. There was no telling what the Butterfly could do and what its plans for Marco were.

"I don't know," Cat Noir continued, still serious. "But I think we are going to need some help."

* * *

The Butterfly continued to fly through the Parisian night, its victim over its back like a sack of flour. Marco turned around and saw that they were approaching what appeared to be a tower with a lone circular window that was wide open.

"Star?" he asked nervously. "Where are we going?"

" **Someplace where we can be together forever** ," the Butterfly said simply. " **Where we won't be bothered ever again.** "

"You mean, that place?" Marco asked incredulously. He didn't know why, but he had a bad feeling about that tower in the distance, almost as if something was waiting for him over there.

As they neared the tower, the Butterfly raised its wand. Instantly, in a flash of light, they ended up in a dark room in the tower. The window that gave the pair a view to the outside world was circular had a butterfly design. Marco stared around wondering where he was, when, all of a sudden, a cold voice snapped him out of his thoughts.

"Well, well, well," said the sneering voice. "Look what the butterfly dragged in." Marco looked up to see that a man was looking back at him. It was the same man that Marco had seen in his dreams the night before, now wearing a blank expression on his face, though Marco could swear that inside, he was feeling victorious.

Marco got up, brushing himself off. He faced the man in purple, a defiant expression on his face. "Who are you? And what do you want with me?"

"Introductions? Fine," the man said impassively. "I am Hawk Moth, keeper of the Moth Miraculous. You must be Marco Diaz. I've heard so much about you and your friend Star." He motioned to the Butterfly.

"I've been _dying_ to meet you," Marco continued, not showing any fear whatsoever.

"I'm sure you have, boy," Hawk Moth sneered. "Though, truth to be told, you are merely a means to an end. I have a friend who I believe you already know." He stepped off to the side, and out of the shadows stepped a bird-like monster wearing an evil grin on his face.

"LUDO?!" Marco shrieked in disbelief. "You're working with him?!"

"SURPRISE!" Ludo smiled maliciously. "Did you and Star miss me, Marco?"

"Like I'd miss a stomach virus," Marco snapped back. "What are you doing here?!"

"Isn't it obvious, Marco, my boy?" Ludo stroked his wand as if it were his pet. "We're using you as bait. You see, we figured that if we kidnapped you, then those no-good ladybug and cat heroes would stop at nothing to find you and make sure you were safe, but little do they know that they will bring those Miraculous-whatchamacallits right here into Hawk Moth's waiting arms. And who better to use than the girl who has had a _burning_ crush on you but was unable to tell you so because you spent all your time with the raven-haired girl?"

The truth hit Marco like a brick wall. " _Star_?" he asked in disbelief, facing the Green-Eyed Butterfly, who had nothing but pure malice and hate in its eyes. Judging by the creature's expression, he was guessing that it was not too happy with he had unknowingly put it through when it was still his best friend.

"Give the boy a prize," Hawk Moth continued, a sinister smile on his face. "Of course, it's _much_ too late to make amends now. Soon, those Miraculouses will finally be mine, and there is nothing that you or anyone else can do about it, not even Ladybug or Cat Noir." He turned to Ludo. "Secure him in the dungeons. And be sure to bring the others in."

 **Oh boy, I think this can only get worse . . .**


	10. Exposed Secrets

**You thought Star turning into an akuma was shocking? Well, then, strap yourselves in, because the ride is going to get wild . . .**

Exposed Secrets

Gabriel paced back and forth on the floor, impatiently waiting. Where on earth was his son? What was he doing? Didn't he make it explicitly clear that his son was not to go anywhere without informing him? He sighed. This hadn't happened at all since Christmas Eve.

He went down the stairs, staring at the phone, wondering whether he should contact the police. At last, he sighed. He went up to his desk and pressed a button.

"Natalie, alert the police," he sighed. "Adrien's missing a-"

A large crash sounded downstairs. Gabriel looked up. What was going on? Was it burglars? He took his flashlight, and held it in a brandishing position, then went downstairs, ready to confront whatever was down there.

"I know you're out there," he called very loudly. "You should know that it's illegal for you to break into someone's home, especially if you're thieves. I should let you know that my house is armed to the teeth and I can have you arrested."

When he reached the front entrance, he saw a large pile of green muck situated in front of the doors. He cringed in disgust. What abomination could have made this? He inched closer, closer, until he was in front of it, then bent down to examine it. _What on earth is this stuff?_

All of a sudden, he felt something warm and sticky drip on top of his head. He looked up and saw a dark winged creature glaring at him with green eyes, salivating that same green liquid muck. Eyes wide with surprise, Gabriel tried to make a run for it. But the creature was too fast. It pointed its wand at him and sucked him in with a beam of light.

* * *

Marinette's parents stared at the phone, waiting for Marinette to pick up. Where was she? This was not like her at all. Mrs. Cheng stared at Mr. Dupain. And it was clear what they should do next.

Mr. Dupain picked up the phone and dialed Alya's number. The phone on the other end rang for some time, and, at last, someone picked.

"Hello?" said a woman's voice.

"Marlena, it's Sabine and Tom," Mrs. Cheng answered. "May we please speak to Alya?"

"Of course. Hold on," came Mrs. Cesaire's voice. A few minutes later, footsteps sounded, and Alya's voice answered the other end.

"Hey, Mr. and Mrs. Dupain-Cheng," Alya started breezily. "You needed something?"

"Yes," Mr. Dupain replied. "Is Marinette at your place?"

"Um, no sir," Alya answered uncertainly. "What makes you say that?"

"Because she hasn't returned yet," Mrs. Cheng said, a hint of worry in her voice. "And we thought that maybe, she went to your place to hide from the akuma that's been attacking her."

"Well, she's not here," Alya said. "But if she turns up, I'll be sure to let you- _AAAAAAAAAAAH!"_

Alya's screams faded into the distance. Both parents looked at each other again. What was that? They quietly decided to contact the police. Maybe they could do something about it. But they hadn't finished dialing when they heard a low growl. The two parents turned around nervously and saw what looked like a spider staring back at them, its four red eyes staring back at them malevolently. They didn't get to open their mouths before the creature shrieked and encased them in a cocoon of sticky webbing.

* * *

Marinette entered her parents' bakery, hoping to find them and ask them to get help. She was therefore surprised to find out that there was no one left in the building. _This is getting creepy_ , she thought to herself. "Mom?" she called. "Dad? Anyone home?"

Nothing.

"Okay, now this is definitely weirding me out," she muttered to herself. "Where could they have gone?" She searched the entire apartment looking for some trace of her parents. Eventually, she went to the living room, where she spotted a note on the counter top next to the phone, and . . . was that a spiderweb on the floor? As far as she was aware, there weren't any Spider Miraculouses. She picked up the note and read it aloud.

"If you want to see your family and the others again, go to the Eiffel tower within 30 minutes. Or their lives are forfeit."

She gulped. The implications of this were pretty clear. This was a ransom. But for what?

"Tikki, time to transform," she said uncertainly. She transformed into Ladybug and swung her way to the Eiffel Tower, where, at least 15 minutes later, she saw Cat Noir pacing up and down, waiting. She landed right next to him.

"I'm guessing you got the note, too, right?" Cat asked.

"Uh huh," Ladybug replied.

"This clearly has Hawk Moth's name written all over it," Cat Noir continued. "I didn't think he'd actually descend this low."

"I'm guessing that someone you care about has been taken from you?" Ladybug said.

Cat Noir paused. He was within a hair's breadth of revealing his identity. "Yeah, you can say that," he said after a while. "What about you?"

"Unfortunately, yes," Ladybug said after a while. A bird cawed in the distance, and two rats emerged from the sewers, watching the pair of them very intently, then disappeared. "Have you gone to Master Fu's?"

"Yes, I have," Cat said. "There was no one there. But who would be waiting for us? Is Hawk Moth coming here to pick us up?"

"Oh, you'll find out soon enough," croaked a deep, gravelly voice. Both superheroes turned around to see a large, humanoid toad-like creature staring back at them, its face smirking in victory. Its eyes were full of excitement.

Before either of them had a chance to react, the creature opened its mouth and shot its frog like tongue at them, which latched onto Cat Noir's leg and reeled him in like a fish. Cat Noir gulped as the creature swallowed him, now sporting a large bulging chin to contain him. Ladybug grimaced in disgust.

"Now it's your turn, girly," the toad-like creature sneered. It shot out its tongue at her, but Ladybug quickly jumped out of the way and shot her yoyo at him, only for the creature to casually smack it aside with his backhand. Ladybug rolled out of the way as the monster toad shot its tongue at her a second time, only for it to miss and latch on to the concrete pavement. She jumped at the creature and aimed a kick at the toad, only for it to successfully latch onto her leg with its tongue and reel her in. A second later, it bounced away, carrying both of its victims.

* * *

Hawk Moth stared out into the Parisian sky, which was now almost completely overtaken by night. He smiled to himself. This was the moment that he had been looking forward to a very long time. It was a wise move to ally himself with Ludo and his henchmen, because they had helped him succeed where he had failed alone. He made a mental note to share some of his power with Ludo as a thank-you for helping his dreams come to fruition.

Then a voice broke into his meditation.

"You do realize you'll never get away with this, right?"

He turned around. It was the same girl who he had akumatized into Lady Wifi, now glaring back at him with a mixture of hatred and defiance. She was standing next to her fellow former akuma victims, all looking as though they would love nothing better than to rip him apart. He chuckled softly.

"Keep quiet, foolish girl, and stop babbling about things you don't know anything about," Hawk Moth simply replied. "A new era is approaching, and you should be grateful that you will get to witness it." In the distance, he heard the flapping of giant wings, and looked out of the tower. A large dark shadow with glowing green eyes made its way toward his tower. Raising its wand, it teleported itself into the observatory where he now stood, reappearing in a flash of white light. Hawk Moth smiled at the Butterfly and stroked its face.

"You've captured him, my pet?" he cooed. The Butterfly gave an affirmative grunt, then tapped it onto the floor, emitting bright white light. The white light materialized to form the outline of a man who groaned softly. Hawk Moth's eyes narrowed in contempt as the light faded.

"Gabriel Agreste." He looked down scornfully at the man who was now at his feet. "My old friend."

Gabriel got up, brushed himself off, and faced the supervillain, his eyes full of cold fury. "If you've done anything to my son, I'll make sure you pay for it with your head."

" _Your_ son?" Hawk Moth chuckled contemptuously. "Do you think that he'll still consider you a father after everything you've put him through at such a young age?"

"Michel . . ." Gabriel growled.

"But I'm saying too much," Hawk Moth cut him off. "You should consider yourself lucky, Gabriel. Soon, you and many others will witness a glorious new era, an age without Ladybug or Cat Noir. Not many people get that once-in-a-lifetime honor." He turned to Buff Toad. "Bring the prisoners forward." The monstrous amphibian saluted him, then disappeared.

"What's this all about?" Alya demanded to Hawk Moth.

"Funny you should say that," he smiled at her. "You always wanted to find out who Ladybug was, am I correct? Well, tonight, you get the scoop of the lifetime. By the way, have you noticed that your friend Marinette is not with you?"

Alya looked at Hawk Moth, not knowing at all what to say. At last, she started, albeit a bit uncertainly, "She probably managed to escape being abducted."

Out of the shadows, Ludo laughed scornfully. "I wouldn't bet my wand that what you're saying is true." He motioned to the door. Alya, Gabriel, and the others turned to the door, where they saw Buff Toad escorting Ladybug and Cat Noir, now covered in muck, before Hawk Moth.

"Ladybug! Cat Noir!" Nino called. "You okay, dudes?"

"I think you mean Marinette and Adrien," Hawk Moth flashed the boy a sinister, knowing grin.

"Impossible," Alya dismissed. "They can't possibly be superheroes."

From the corner, Ludo laughed raucously, this was all too hilarious. "Oh, I see, I get it now, you really think that they're your friends? WRONG! They were using you! You're just their cover! Don't believe me? Then stick around, because the truth will be revealed!" He turned to Buff Toad. "Begin!"

"Vith pleasure, Master Ludo," Buff Toad snickered. He gripped Cat Noir's arm. Cat's eyes widened in fear. This couldn't be happening, it just couldn't . . .

Cat struggled and tried to fight back. But the monster toad's grip on him was too strong. Ludo walked up to him, smiling wickedly.

"Let's see how powerful you are without your ring, kitty!" he cackled. He aimed his wand at him, and the wand began to glow a sickly green. Cat Noir struggled, trying to resist the effects of the wand. Instantly, he felt his ring start to slide up his ring finger. With a pop, Plagg appeared, and Cat Noir felt his costume magically disappear. The ring floated over to Hawk Moth's open hand and rested on his palm.

"Plagg!" Adrien cried out. "Please help me!"

"I'm sorry, kid," Plagg said sadly, looking as though his former owner's request was now a tall order. "I have a new master now." He turned to Hawk Moth and bowed his head unwillingly.

A few gasps sounded, followed an outbreak of muttering. Indeed, Nino looked especially stunned by the revelation that his best friend was secretly a superhero and never bothered to tell him. The only other person who looked more shocked than him was Ladybug, who now had to come to terms with the fact that the boy she had a crush on for a long time also had a crush on her and she didn't even know it.

Before she could let the fact settle, Ludo turned his wand toward her. Instantly, Ladybug felt something like a small powerful drill in both of her earlobes. He was removing her Miraculous!

"No!" she screamed. She made a move to cover both her ears, but she felt something force her arms behind her back. She turned around to see that it was the Butterfly, determined to prevent her from interfering.

The pain in her earlobes intensified, and she screamed in pain, unable to do anything as she felt the earrings disconnect from her ears and her costume disappear. Suddenly, Tikki popped out of nowhere, a look of worry on her face. Another outbreak of gasping and muttering resounded, only much louder and longer this time.

"Marinette!" Tikki cried. "Help me!"

"I'm coming, Tikki!" Marinette cried. She struggled against the Butterfly's grip, but it was just too strong. Marinette could only watch in horror as the earrings levitated farther away from her reach, until they finally rested in Hawk Moth's other palm. Almost suddenly, a somber expression dawned on Tikki, and she turned to face her new master, bowing reluctantly. Marinette felt the grip on her arms loosen.

"Tikki . . ." Marinette groaned weakly. "No . . ." She reached out, trying in vain to reclaim her kwami and her Miraculous, but soon succumbed to the oncoming lassitude.

And the world faded to black.

 **Hot damn.**


	11. Revelations, Part 1

**Not gonna lie, I've been looking forward to writing this chapter for a long time.**

Revelations, Part One

Alya's brain froze with numbness. She must be seeing things. Surely this was some sort of sick joke. It didn't seem possible that her best friend was also a famous superhero and the subject of her blog. Marinette was a complete klutz and a nervous wreck, while Ladybug was cool, calm, graceful and confident. It also didn't seem possible that Adrien was Cat Noir. Adrien was shy and quiet, whereas Cat Noir was, well, in a word, _wild_.

Although, the more she thought about it, the more it was starting to make sense. This would explain why Marinette arrived to school late almost every day. This would also explain why Marinette and Ladybug were never around at the same time or place. What she failed to comprehend, however, was why her best friend never bothered confiding in her about her secret.

And judging by the looks of the other captives, she was not alone in her thoughts. Indeed, no one appeared more hurt and scandalized than Chloe, who now had to come to grips with the fact that the girl whose guts she hated dearly was also the same girl who she idolized and worshiped. Mr. Dupain and Mrs. Cheng looked at each other, clearly also wondering why their daughter never bothered to confide in them as well. The only person who didn't appear affected by this revelation was Gabriel, who tilted his head down in sorrow.

Hawk Moth looked at his newfound treasures, then at his new kwami servants. He could hardly believe that after so many months of failure, he had the two most powerful Miraculouses in the world literally in the palms of his hands. He put on the Cat Ring, and instantly, a green aura glowed around Plagg, who bowed his head down in submission.

"Stop!" Adrien cried out desperately. "You'll hurt him!"

Hawk Moth turned to the boy, an amused smile contorting his face. "I believe that as his new owner, I can do whatever I want with him now," he coldly chuckled. "Isn't that right, _son_?"

Adrien paused. What did Hawk Moth mean? He looked at Marinette, who was now crumpled up on the floor in exhaustion. If Marinette was Ladybug, then that means . . .

 _I've been crushing on Marinette, and I didn't even know it!_ he thought. _The only way that this can be more awkward is if she had a crush on me._

"Ludo, Buff Toad," Hawk Moth's voice interrupted his thoughts. "The captives can join the boy and the mayor in the dungeons."

"You captured my father!?" Chloe shrieked, hardly believing it. "When I get out of here I will-"

"-join him in serving the two of us," Ludo finished, waving his wand at her. Instantly, Chloe's lips pressed down together, as if bound by powerful superglue. Chloe tried to open her mouth, but her face contorted into silent anger after she found out she was unable to do so. "You talk too much, girly."

"Indeed, she does," Hawk Moth agreed, still amused. "And I look forward to having a little discussion with you and your father. Isn't that right, Ludo?"

Ludo snickered. "You bet!" He waved his wand once more, and instantly, green shackles formed on all the captives' wrists, which were automatically forced behind their backs. Ludo levitated Adrien and the unconscious body of Marinette over to the prisoners. "MARCH!" he shouted. Not wanting to find out what else he was capable of, the prisoners reluctantly exited the room, single file, down to the dungeons, escorted by Buff Toad and the Butterfly.

* * *

Marco wriggled uncomfortably in the humungous spiderweb that Ludo had stuck him in. He bet that by now, Marinette and her friends would have been captured by now. He wondered whether Marinette already had her identity exposed. Beside him was a fairly tall man with gray hair and light blue eyes, who wore a dark gray dress jacket with three large buttons over a white dress shirt, a dark red tie, dark gray slacks and black shoes.

"I'm guessing he caught you too, huh?" Marco asked the man.

"How did you guess?" the man asked.

"He did say something about 'bringing the others in,'" Marco replied. "And I can only assume that you were one of the ones he was talking about."

The man opened his mouth to reply, but the door creaked open, followed by Marinette, Adrien, their classmates, Mr. and Mrs. Dupain-Cheng, and another man Marco had never seen before in his life enter, escorted by Ludo, the Butterfly and a large toad-like creature. As soon as all the prisoners went in, Ludo waved his wand and tossed all of them onto the spiderweb.

"Well," Adrien joked in an attempt to ease the tension, "I see we've gotten ourselves in a _sticky_ situation."

None of them were laughing.

"Dude," Nino snapped, "now's not the time. Especially since you never bothered to tell any of us about your other life."

Adrien opened his mouth to defend himself, but then the door opened again, and Ludo came in, tossing Master Fu along with Mr. and Mrs. Diaz, onto the spiderweb with them, then left.

Just then, Marinette opened her eyes groggily, moaning softly.

"Where . . . where are we?" she asked. Alya turned her head around to face her.

"I think the answer should be obvious to you, _Ladybug_ ," she snapped, her voice echoing of hurt and disappointment. "Care to explain why you never bothered to tell any of us?"

"I . . . I don't know what you're talking about," Marinette lied. Marco sighed. If his hands had been free, he would have facepalmed right then and there.

"Don't kid us," Mylene shot back. "We were there when the bird creature revealed both of your identities. Now answer the question. _Why didn't you tell us_?"

"I . . . I . . . " Marinette turned to Marco, who only gave her a look that said quite plainly, _See? What did I tell you?_ "I don't know, okay?"

"What don't you know?" Alya's eyes started to tear up. "You're supposed to be my best friend! You're supposed to confide everything to me! Why didn't you tell me about your superhero double life? I feel like you've kicked me around and ripped my heart out!"

"Alya, no, I'd never do something like that!" Marinette protested desperately. "That's something Chloe would do!"

"Look who's talking," Chloe snapped. "At least _I_ let everyone know _exactly_ what I thought about them. _You_ , on the other hand, have been lying to all of us for who knows how long! And on top of that, since I'm Ladybug's biggest fan, that means I'm . . . _your_ biggest fan! Ugh!" She grimaced in disgust.

"Hate to say it, but she's not wrong there," Juleka agreed in a tone of sadness and disappointment.

"Don't be silly! I was going to tell you eventually!" Marinette shot back.

"When?" Alya snapped. "When we weren't trapped in a spiderweb several floors below ground level while the man who corrupted us all now has the means to, and I quote, 'usher in a new age without Ladybug or Cat Noir'? Was that bird monster right? Were you and Adrien just using us all as a cover?"

Marinette froze. Alya had finally trapped her. There was no viable answer in sight.

"That's what I thought," Alya said.

"I couldn't agree more," said a cold voice. They turned their heads to see Hawk Moth standing in the entrance of the cell, accompanied by Ludo and his men, all with evil smiles on their faces. Hawk Moth looked, by comparison, far more relaxed than his fellows, flashing them an easygoing yet sinister smile.

"What do you want?" Marinette asked miserably. "Haven't you gloated enough?"

"Oh, I'm not here to gloat to you, I can assure you," Hawk Moth smiled. "In fact, I must say that I find quite impressive that you keep managing to beat me every time. But have you ever stopped to consider _why_ they show up quite frequently?"

"Because of all those people experiencing negative emotions?" Marco snapped.

Hawk Moth chuckled. "Right you are, my boy. Of course, half of all the akuma attacks wouldn't have even happened if it weren't for _her_." He motioned toward Chloe, who stared back at him, confused.

"Me?" she asked.

"Yes." He turned to the man beside her. "I must say, Mr. Mayor, you've raised a fine specimen of human being right here." Motioning over to Chloe, he continued, "I wouldn't have had _nearly_ as many people to corrupt if it weren't for her, and for that, I thank her." He gave her a mocking smile.

"It's impossible," Chloe scoffed in an affronted manner. "Everybody adores me."

"NO WE DON'T!" the rest of the students screamed. Chloe flinched at this sudden outburst.

"You've been making our lives miserable for as long as we remember!" Rose yelled, almost in tears.

"Agreed!" said Kim. "I still can't get over you humiliating me when I wanted to express my emotions for you and blackmailing me to get me to drop out of the student election!"

"Was making fun of my crush on Marinette really necessary?" Nathaniel chimed in.

"Or locking me in the bathroom to get me out of the way?" Juleka added.

"They all have a point, you know," Marinette shot at Chloe. "You're not going to see me making fun of Marco just for having a crush on me, or locking Juleka in the girls' room just to get closer to Adrien."

Chloe laughed, then turned to Marco. "You? Have a crush on Marinette? What do you see in her?"

"Apparently, everything he doesn't see in you," Ivan replied in the most deadpan manner possible. Max allowed himself to have a giggle.

"Your insignificant but accurate friends are correct," Hawk Moth smiled at Chloe. Ludo raised his wand, conjuring a long scroll out of nowhere, which Hawk Moth grabbed and began reading aloud. "February 14, 2016: The Dark Cupid attacks."

Ludo and his men laughed insanely, the chamber echoing with their jeering. Chloe was feeling more and more uncomfortable by the second. Perhaps it was the fact that her sins were now being read out loud to her, but she started to wonder if maybe, just maybe, she may have been a bit too awful to her fellow students.

"September 10, 2016," Hawk Moth continued. "The 'Kung Food' incident, at your father's hotel. It's a pity that Kung Food never got to complete that soup of his, because I would have _loved_ to have an extra large helping of it." Beside him, Ludo licked his lips obscenely, almost as if he were relishing the idea of drinking the soup. Chloe gulped nervously.

"And finally, January 31 of that same year, the attack of the policeman dubbed 'Rogercop'," Hawk Moth flashed the mayor a satisfied smile. "Tell me, Mr. Mayor, how did it feel to surrender all your authority to the policeman you fired on such flimsy grounds?"

Mayor Bourgeois did not know what to say. He stared at Hawk Moth, evidently at a loss for what to say. Sabrina, however, seemed to pick up on what he was saying. "Wait a second," she started. "You mean to tell me that-"

"-your best friend is the reason your father got fired and akumatized," Ludo completed with a satisfied grin.

Sabrina turned furiously on Chloe. "I can't believe you would do something like this!"

Once again, Chloe had no words for what to say.

"I thought you were my best friend, Chloe! But Marinette was right! You really are just using me and giving me nothing in return! With friends like you, who needs enemies?"

At last, Chloe seemed to have found her voice.

"Now listen here," she snarled. "You never would have gotten anywhere if it weren't for me. You and Adrien are the only people I even considered worthy enough to be in my presence. I think the both of you ought to be grateful for that. I'm sure at least Adrikins can vouch for me."

But by this point, Adrien had finally had enough.

"Stop right there, Chloe Bourgeois. For years I put up with your behavior because I was convinced that you would eventually change your ways. But sadly, I now see that is not the case. Do you know what I see when I look at you? I see a stuck-up, self-absorbed, conceited prick who cares about nobody but herself. You're not really my friend. You're just using me to make yourself look good. A true friend is honest, generous, loyal, kind, and always happy put a smile on someone's face when they are feeling down. Sadly, you fulfill none of those requirements. And you think you can excuse yourself by saying that your father is the mayor of Paris? Well, get a load of this: your father can't stay in office forever, so sooner or later, you will have to learn what life is like at the bottom of the food chain. I really had high hopes for you, but you've let me down, so consider. Our. Friendship. OVER!"

Chloe stared back at him, stunned. She didn't know what to say. She felt as though she had been pierced through the heart with a dagger.

Adrien stared at her, silently fuming. This girl had pushed him far enough, and for once, she was in no position to tell him what to do. And he was certain that Sabrina now felt the same way.

Hawk Moth smiled. "Well, in that case, I'll leave you to it then. My work here is done. When next we all meet, Marinette and Adrien will be no more, and the rest of you will be my servants forever." He beckoned Ludo and his men forward. "Come, Ludo." They disappeared up the stairs, until the sound of their footsteps disappeared.

"Now what are we going to do?" Marco asked, more nervously than before. Their straits could not have been more dire. Not only was his best friend now an akuma, but the man who transformed her was now poised to take over the world. He turned to Master Fu. "I don't suppose you know how we can get out of this?"

Master Fu sighed sadly. "Unfortunately, no. I knew for a long time that Hawk Moth would eventually get his hands on Marinette and Adrien's Miraculouses, but I never could have foreseen him teaming up with a more powerful ally, or that he would eventually corrupt your best friend."

"Wait a second," Adrien interrupted. "You mean that the butterfly-winged monster out there . . . is _Star_?"

"Unfortunately," Marco sighed.

"I'm sorry, man," was all Adrien could manage to say.

"Thanks, Adrien, but I think this is all my fault," Marco said sadly. "I kinda made her jealous of me and Marinette without meaning to." And so he explained how she had caught him kissing Marinette in the park earlier and how he felt that may have led to her becoming vulnerable to akumatization.

"It wasn't your fault," Adrien assured him after he had finished explaining. "We'll find a way to restore her to normal. If anything, I would like to know why that monster out there keeps referring to me as his son."

Gabriel sighed. "I'm afraid that's where I have to come in." He faced Adrien sadly. "I hoped that it wouldn't have to come to this, but with everything that's going on right now, it is clear that all of you deserve to know everything. It's time I told you- _all_ of you-what really happened."

 **Well . . . I don't know what to say.**


	12. Revelations, Part 2

**You probably figured out by now that unlike most of the ML community, I don't believe the whole Gabriel-Agreste-is-Hawk-Moth theory. And you'd be right. Here's my explanation.**

Revelations, Part Two

"Many years ago," Gabriel started, "I had a twin brother named Michel. Although Michel was far more driven than me, we were still the closest of brothers. Nothing could separate us. We were practically best friends. Then one day, our mother fell ill. Times were rough. Since our father could barely support us, we both decided to take after school jobs in order to contribute to the family income. Michel decided to take up the position of paper boy, while I became an apprentice at the local tailor's.

"One day, while I was working behind the linen fabrics, I saw it. A peacock shaped jewel. I didn't know where it had come from, or what it was doing there, but my curiosity kicked in. I wondered whether it was intended to be a part of a design for cloth, so I put it in my pocket for safekeeping.

"That night, I studied it in my room. Before I could properly examine it, there was a flash of light. Next thing I knew, there was a tiny blue creature with a miniature tail looking back at me. I asked the creature what it was, and it introduced itself to be Duusu, the kwami of the Peacock Miraculous. Of course, I knew nothing of either kwamis or Miraculouses back then.

"For a long time, I sought to find answers. What were the Miraculouses? Where did they come from? Those were the only things that occupied my mind day and night, whenever I wasn't working.

"And then one day, the answers came to me one weekend while I was working at the tailor's. An old man had noticed the Miraculous I was carrying. He heard that I was interested in its origins, and gave me his card, saying that if I wanted to find out, I should meet him at the address printed his card after hours.

"So after my shift ended that afternoon, I went to the address he had printed on his card, but not before informing my father where I would be going. Once I had gotten inside, he had introduced himself to be Master Fu, an ancient spiritual master, who knew all about the Miraculouses. He told me how each of these creatures called kwamis was spiritually connected to them and how each Miraculous gave the wearers new powers and abilities.

"Not long after, I began to spend more of my free time at Master Fu's. Unfortunately, this did not go unnoticed by my brother, who one day demanded me point-blank to tell me where I was going. Seeing how mere words would fail to do justice, I opted to just show him instead. And as was expected, he too began growing an interest in the concept of seemingly ordinary jewels that could make you powerful and little creatures that could make them work. He noticed, however, that one of the jewels was missing: a brooch that was connected to butterflies. Master Fu explained to both of us how it had mysteriously vanished many years ago without a trace. I don't know why, but for some reason, it sparked a greed that had not been present before in my brother. Master Fu must have recognized it, because he cautioned Michel that a Miraculous has to be earned, not taken by force, and that it is only meant to benefit the human race; doing otherwise will bring something terrible to the wearer.

"But alas, I think Michel was too far gone, because that night he told me how he was going to be the one to find the brooch and be its rightful owner. I advised him against the idea, but I should have known that he would not listen to me. He was always one to become more ambitious, one to crave more power and status and to move up the totem pole."

"Where does the part come in about me being Hawk Moth's son?" Adrien interrupted.

"I'm getting there," Gabriel assured him. "Just be patient.

"I didn't know it then, but that was the start of the two of us drifting farther and farther apart. I tried to get my brother to see reason, but unfortunately, he was already making plans, and he tried to get me to join in on them as well. Needless to say, he was less than pleased. He told me how one day, it would be the end of me, and that I was going to regret it.

"Nevertheless, things stayed pretty calm for the next few years or so, but we slowly started drifting apart. During that time, I gained more and more recognition in the world of fashion, and slowly gained more and more fame. I even began experimenting with my own designs and creating my own lines. Michel, on the other hand, moved on to a more successful position and eventually fell in love with a woman. But there was no doubt that the thought of finding the Butterfly Miraculous stayed in his mind. This was most evident when the two of us reunited a few years earlier.

"It was a warm summer day. My brother had told me that he had married a woman named Tara, who he had met one day in the park. They had given birth to you, Adrien." His eyes turned to Adrien, whose eyes widened in surprise at the statement. "You were less than a year old that time. You took a lot after your mother, but you had your father's eyes.

"Anyway, for a while, it felt like old times, like the two of us were friends again. But then, he dropped the bombshell on me. He said that he and his wife were going on that trip to find the Butterfly Brooch, and that they would be taking you with them. Now, I know for a fact that your mother knew of the plans he had in store for the future, and she hardly approved of them. However, Michel revealed that he had already found out a list of possible locations for the Butterfly Brooch. I feared where this conversation was going, because it was clear to me that he had not forgotten. Nevertheless, I humored him.

"In his study that afternoon, he showed me the map of all the locations where the brooch could have been: Asia Minor, South Korea, China, and Egypt. I told him point-blank that he was embarking on madness. But he would have none of it; he even retaliated by asking me if I still kept the Peacock Jewel all these years. I will not lie, he got me where he wanted me. But I shut down his remark by saying that unlike him, I did not brood over the Miraculouses every waking hour. He argued that this would be the best way for all of us to see the world outside Paris, but I tried to convince him that it was a bad idea. Eventually, Tara offered a compromise: Michel would be free to embark on that quest of his on the sole condition that he made me your temporary guardian. Michel, who by that point was lost in his lust for power, agreed.

"Fourteen years passed without any word from him. In that time, your mother helped me raise you like an adopted son, and I will admit, she gave our home a new life that it never had before. Of course, she never actually cheated on him, only tried to make sure you never ended up like him. She even started insisting that you start calling me your father, seeing how much closer she was to me than him. Then one day, she received a letter from Michel saying that at long last, he had finally found the Butterfly Brooch and was on his way home. She came up to my study the next day to tell me that she was going to meet Michel, and that I should stay here until she came back. I agreed, not know what would become of her.

"As soon as the door closed, I heard a few strong vibrations from within my study. I ran downstairs to the entrance, only to find to my horror that she had mysteriously disappeared, leaving behind a few cracks on the stone stairway. There was no telling what happened to her, and it could not have come at a worse time, for at that moment, Michel had come up the driveway with the brooch in his hand. He demanded to know what had happened to his wife. I was unable to give a response, and he assumed I had played a role in her disappearance. I tried to convince him otherwise, but it was apparently the last straw for him. 'Michel,' I started, 'don't do this. You know I would never have done anything to her.'

"But alas, that had pushed him over the edge. 'Michel Agreste is dead,' he spat, then turned around and left, leaving me all alone."

* * *

Silence. No one said anything. Adrien paused, thinking about the story that his adoptive father had just told him. So his real father was now a supervillain bent on destroying the world, and the man he thought was his father was really his adoptive uncle. He didn't know what to say.

"Wow," Marco said at last. "Saddest story ever." He looked at Adrien. In that moment, he felt sorry for Adrien. Because now, he knew how it felt to lose someone he cared about to circumstances beyond his control.

"Yes, yes it is," Gabriel sighed. "And you can see where all this has come to. In fact, I even returned the Peacock Miraculous, hoping that it would help me forget about the whole ordeal and the pain it caused."

Another silence settled over the group.

"One quick question," Alya interrupted, turning to Master Fu. "How exactly did Marinette and Adrien get their jewels?"

"I gave the Miraculouses to them because they showed that they were willing to help people and put others before their own needs," Master Fu said simply. "Once they had shown that they were willing to place importance on the needs of the many, I decided to reward them."

"I'm pretty insulted that you didn't choose _me_ to bear a Miraculous," Chloe said to Master Fu.

Master Fu chuckled bitterly. "Young lady, your behavior is most unbecoming a Miraculous holder. I assure you, Marinette and Adrien earned their powers simply by their own merit. You, on the other hand, have provided Hawk Moth plenty of opportunities to cause havoc in the city thanks to your cruel, selfish, and domineering behavior. If you had been just two tads nicer, maybe, just maybe, you would have received your own powers. But at the moment, not happening."

"That still doesn't explain why Marinette or Adrien never told any of us," Nino cut in. "As their friends, we could have kept their secrets."

"You know what else hasn't been explained?" Marco added. "Why, out of all of Adrien and Marinette's friends, Chloe seems target Marinette the most." He turned to Chloe. "What's your deal with her?"

Chloe froze. "I . . . I just don't like her, that's all," she replied lamely.

Marco gave a sardonic laugh. "Girl, I know plenty of people back home who drive me up the wall too, but I'm not going to make their lives miserable because, how is that gonna make me any better than them? Besides, from what I've heard, what you've done has gone far and beyond basic school bullying. You've created more enemies than allies, and imagine if you had driven someone into a deep depression because of your behavior and they never recovered, how would you feel?"

Chloe paused. She wouldn't admit it, but there might be some truth to what the boy was saying.

"So now what are we going to do?" Rose asked miserably. "There's no way out of this situation. If what you're saying is true, then there's no way we can get out of here and stop Hawk Moth and whoever that bird was."

"Look," Master Fu sighed, "Things may seem hopeless now, but there is always a light at the end. I know there will be a way to get out of this mess and fix everything. The night is darkest just before the dawn. And believe me-" he turned wearily to the people around him- "the dawn is soon coming."

 **Well, that was the backstory of Gabriel Agreste and Hawk Moth. I sure hope I pulled it off well.**

 **Up next: Things really get down to business!**


	13. The End

**Here it comes . . .**

The End

"Is everything ready?" Hawk Moth asked Ludo and Buff Toad.

"Yes, master," Buff Toad affirmed.

"Excellent," Hawk Moth replied, pleased. He turned to face Plagg and Tikki. "I hope you two are ready to serve me and provide ultimate power for eternity!"

"But master," Tikki protested, "the Miraculouses are not meant to be used for evil purposes!"

Hawk Moth gave a sarcastic chuckle, then pointed at her. "Does it look like I care? Need I remind you that _I_ now hold your jewels? Your Miraculouses are in my possession now, and you have no choice but to obey me!"

"Yes master," Plagg and Tikki agreed defeatedly, hanging their heads in resignation.

Hawk Moth flashed them a malicious grin, then directed his attention to the Moth Miraculous on his shirt. "I'm not going to need this stupid brooch anymore. Nooroo and his Miraculous have served their purpose." He clasped the Miraculous with his hands. "Nooroo, Dark Wings, Fall!" His costume magically disappeared, revealing a pale, wrinkled, scarred old man underneath. Plagg could not help but gasp. He looked exactly like Adrien's father- if he had rapidly aged at least eight years and had his upper face riddled in scars. He knew at once that the disfiguration was a side effect of abusing Nooroo's power for so long. Hawk Moth shot the jewel one last look of contempt, then threw it aside.

"Master," Buff Toad interjected, "what if someone takes the Moth Brooch while you're not looking?"

Hawk Moth gave another sarcastic chuckle. "The only ones who would want to steal the Miraculous are currently in the basement of this tower, broken from everything we have put them through. There's no way the thought would even occur to them." With the Moth Brooch taken care of, he examined the ring he had stolen from Adrien, then turned to Plagg. "What was that transformation phrase again?" Plagg was about to remark that he was not going to tell him when Hawk Moth interrupted, "Oh yeah . . . _claws out_."

Plagg screamed as the activated ring sucked him in. Tikki watched in horror as the black cat costume appeared all over his body. The ladybug kwami noted that he looked just like Cat Noir- a grown up, twisted, evil version of Cat Noir.

"Your turn, little ladybug," he said to Tikki, putting the earrings on his earlobes. Ludo, the Butterfly, and the monsters all watched in anticipation, eagerly waiting. Tikki's eyes widened in horror; she knew what he was about to say next.

" _Tikki, spots on!"_

Tikki screamed as she tried in vain to fly away; but it was of no use. She found herself being sucked into the earrings.

And then, it happened. A white glow appeared around Hawk Moth, who floated up into the air in victory. A blinding light flashed on his body, and when it disappeared, there was Hawk Moth, floating up into the air, his entire body a brilliant purple-yellow. His face was contorted into a very menacing grin. Ludo could hardly believe that the fruit of his labors was now standing right before his eyes. The only question now was whether or not his partner was going to hold up his end of the bargain. Hawk Moth stared at his hands in wonder, then turned to face Ludo, whose face was now starting to dawn with apprehension.

"Ludo," he said, "when we first met, I promised to myself that I would reward you if you helped me achieve my goal of obtaining the Miraculouses."

"Yes," Ludo affirmed nervously. He didn't know why, but he didn't like where this conversation was going. He gulped. Was he going to . . . kill him?

"And now that my secret dream has been realized," Hawk Moth continued, "it is time for yours to get fulfilled as well."

Ludo gasped; he couldn't believe that after all this time, Hawk Moth was going to get rid of him. The other monsters clearly thought the same thing as well, because Buff Toad objected, "But Master Hawk Moth-"

"Not now, Buff Toad," Hawk Moth interrupted. "Your leader is in for the reward of a lifetime." And with that, he charged up two white beams of light in both of his hands, and blasted them at Ludo. The other monsters, especially Buff Toad and the Butterfly, gasped in horror, sickened by the betrayal. How could their partner just backstab them like this?

But when the light cleared, a most amazing sight met their eyes. Where their master was, a tall, grayish-green, birdlike, muscular creature with yellow eyes and a fanged dark gray beak in a cape stood. Its simple wand had upgraded itself into a warlock's staff with an orb as green as its evil nature. The warlock Ludo took a look at his new body, then at his new staff, pleased with the upgrade. He turned to Hawk Moth and smiled in gratitude.

" _ **THIS IS GONNA BE SO COOL!"**_ he declared. He raised his staff. Outside, storm clouds covered the night sky, and a few bolts of green lightning flashed menacingly. _**"THANK YOU SO MUCH!"**_

"The pleasure is all mine," Hawk Moth smiled. He turned to the window. "Now, it is time for both the Earth and Mewni dimensions to recognize their new overlords." He opened his arms out wide. A large boom sounded, and a large shockwave started spreading out all over the world, turning the whole sky a brilliant shade of purple.

All across the world, people looked up in wonder and fright at the spectacle they were witnessing. What was this? Was this some sort of natural phenomenon?

Suddenly, they froze and felt something spark inside them. They stood still, awaiting their orders. Then, a man's voice rang out across the entire globe.

" _I am Hawk Moth. All of you are now my servants. I give you the powers necessary to remake this world in my own image."_

" _Yes, Hawk Moth_ ," the people droned mindlessly. Purple-black smoke started covering them, and monster of various colors, shapes, and sizes emerged from them. Within minutes, some of them started wreaking havoc on the cities they lived in, while others started grabbing boulders and stones of various sizes to start building monuments and statues of their glorious new leader.

Hawk Moth smiled. It felt so good to have all the power in the world. And there was literally nothing anybody could do. He turned to Ludo.

"Ludo, I will require your assistance in bringing someone I love dearly back. The time, meanwhile, has come for your monsters to declare war on Mewni."

* * *

Chloe stared blankly in front of her, surrounded and infected by the general dreariness of the situation. This was it. Her whole life was over. Not only was her idol made out to be the very girl whom she had despised for so long, but both her best friend and her crush have officially cut her out of their lives. Not to mention that she had been outed as the cause of many of Hawk Moth's akumatizations.

She sighed. She remembered her childhood years, when things were a lot better for her and her family. Back when Mrs. Bourgeois was a part of her family. She was the best mother that anyone could ever ask for, the one who made home life a great deal more tolerable.

She remembered the bully, the one who made her suffer all those years in kindergarten and early primary school. A freckled blue-haired girl and her posse, who always made her life miserable every waking hour of the day. But she had a loving family back then, and there was nothing that could possibly go wrong.

Until that fateful day when her father decided to run for mayor of Paris.

Her mother was always a woman of principle, and she wholeheartedly objected to her father running for politics, believing that it brought out the worst in others. But her father argued that as mayor, he could set an example for the city to follow. Mrs. Bourgeois, fearing the worst, expressly forbade him from entering the candidacy. But Mr. Bourgeois went ahead and did it anyways.

Then came the lawyers. The increasing arguments. The all-night screaming. Until one day, it all came to a head when she filed for a divorce. She packed up her stuff and left the family, leaving behind a stunned man and his child.

The bullying, meanwhile, had grown much worse. The blue-haired girl and her posse had called her names and taken her lunch money. Eventually, she snapped, and, with years of vitriol and acrimony backing her up, called the blue-haired girl a fat-faced monkey who couldn't do anything if her life had depended on it. Stunned, the blue-haired girl ran off, crying harder than she ever had in her whole life, and in that moment, Chloe realized that it felt good to fight back against the oppressor. She solemnly vowed, in that moment, that she, Chloe Bourgeois, would never, ever show weakness again. The innocent girl she once was had long since departed, replaced by a new creature that had taken root in its place.

She was Chloe Bourgeois, the girl who would always stay on top, the girl who would always be number one. And anyone who tried to bring her down would pay dearly.

And she wouldn't admit it now, but Marinette reminded her a whole lot of the childhood bully. Perhaps, if they came out of this situation alive, she would make amends with her former victims, starting with her.

Suddenly, a large boom sounded out of nowhere. The general tint of the room turned a brilliant purple. Marinette sighed; she knew at once that Hawk Moth had succeeded in using Tikki to take over the world. Coupled with the fact that almost everyone now hated her for not telling the truth, this dealt a very crushing blow to her spirits. There was no way they could get out of this, nor will there ever be.

Just then, Marco looked down and saw something like a large green raisin fall down to the ground. He peered at it. There was something familiar about that raisin. It was –

"Wayzz?" Marco asked curiously. "What are you doing here?"

"Well," Wayzz said, flying up to where Marco was, "I stowed myself away in Master's bag when I heard the thugs arrive and stayed hidden until I was sure that it was safe to come out."

"What are you, exactly?" Alya asked.

"He's a kwami," Adrien sighed. "They're what enable the Miraculouses to transform the wearers."

"How come we've never seen you before?" Nino asked, while Sabrina looked on with curiosity. "Or any others, for that matter?"

"Well," Wayzz said uncertainly, "as you've been probably been informed before, it's general policy to not reveal our presence. But since Tikki and Plagg have already been exposed, there's really no point in abiding by _that_ law anymore."

"Any news?" Marco asked.

"The Moth Miraculous," Wayzz explained. "I felt its aura disappear. It's as if Hawk Moth decided that he no longer needed it now that he has both the Ladybug and Cat jewels."

"Don't remind me," Marinette mumbled to herself, thinking immediately of Tikki.

"Master Fu," Marco said, remembering something from earlier in the week, "you said that the Miraculouses were meant to be used to good purposes right?"

"Exactly," Master Fu said. "Why do you ask?"

"Because now that Hawk Moth has discarded the Butterfly Brooch, I think it's high time it we put it to its proper use." Marco turned to the turtle kwami. "Wayzz, see if you can bring it down here as well as a few butterflies."

"Um, that's a good idea and all, but how do you intend to use it?" Alya asked. "We're stuck here! And in case you haven't heard, it's going to stay that way until Hawk Moth comes back down here to enslave us!"

"In other words," Juleka added sadly, "it's over."

"Maybe not yet," Marco said. "Wayzz, how fast are you able to travel?"

"I could put a girdle around the earth in forty minutes," Wayzz replied. "Why do you ask?"

Marco smiled; an idea was beginning to form in his mind. "Because I'm going to need you make a few stops before the night is up."

 **Wonder how this will all unfold. Stay tuned for more!**

 **And no, in case you're wondering, this is NOT the last chapter, despite what the title says. Just thought I should get that out of the way.**


	14. The Best Laid Plans

**At long last, we'll see the Moth Brooch put to its proper use.**

 **And I know I may be criticized, but I decided to add a few new SVTFOE characters.**

The Best Laid Plans

"Man, what is up with this sky?" Pony Head asked, taking a look at the sky, which had turned a brilliant purple. "And what are those people doing with that boulder?" She looked down and noticed that Star's classmates were among many others in Echo Creek who were building monuments to someone while under a hypnotic daze. Meanwhile, monsters not unlike those that occasionally plagued Mewni ran rampant throughout the streets, causing chaos and mayhem wherever they went. Pony Head hoped that Star and, as much as she wished otherwise, the Earth turd were okay in all this mayhem.

"Trust me," said a new, unfamiliar voice, "you're going to find out pretty soon." She turned around to see that a tiny green turtle-like creature with yellow sclerae and green eyes staring back at her. It was holding something- a purple, oval-shaped brooch. Pony Head stared at the creature in confusion. "Who are you?" she asked. "And what, may I ask, is that?"

"I am Wayzz," the turtle-like creature started. "l am the kwami for the Turtle Miraculous. I was sent here to you because both this world and yours are in grave danger."

"Who sent you?" Pony Head asked.

"Marco Diaz," Wayzz said. "And I'm assuming your name is Princess Pony Head?"

"Just Pony Head will do," the unicorn said. She stifled laughter, hardly believing that the Earth turd had sent whatever this thing was to deliver a message. "And what, may I ask, is a Miraculous? Or that, for the matter?" She pointed her horn at the brooch.

"I'll explain everything in due time," Wayzz assured her. "But first, we need to recruit a few of your friends to help us. Do you know someone named Queen Moon?"

"Of course," Pony Head said. "Why?"

"Because I'll need her help, and that of some others," Wayzz said.

* * *

Queen Moon was worried to her stomach. Never had her kingdom seen an attack as unexpected as this. The cities were attacked by monsters that she had never seen before, and her forces were stretched thin. All over Mewni, soldiers reported seeing their comrades fall down at the hands of creatures with powers they had never seen before, and reports came that the attackers were slowly but surely closing in on the castle. Even the Magical High Commission was worked to its breaking point. She wondered how her daughter was faring on earth. Whatever the case, it had to be a lot better than what she was going through.

Just then, one of the guards came up to her and saluted. "Your Majesty, an incoming transmission from the Diaz residence on Earth."

Queen Moon nodded. She touched a button on her mirror to find the image of Pony Head and a miniscule green, turtle-like creature looking back at her.

"Pardon me," the miniscule creature said, "but are you Queen Moon?"

"Yes I am," she answered. "Why do you ask? And who are you?"

"I'll explain everything later," the creature said. "But I come with grave tidings, Your Majesty. Your daughter is in trouble." Both the queen and Pony Head gasped.

"She hasn't been attacked, has she?" Queen Moon asked, aghast.

"Much worse, I'm afraid," the creature said. "She has been converted into a servant of evil."

"How do you know?" Pony Head asked him, surprised.

"Let's just say that I have ways," the creature said simply. "And unless we act, we may never be able to see her again."

Queen Moon nodded; she knew that this situation was very serious. "I'll meet you there as soon as I can." The transmission ended. Queen Moon turned to King River, who had just come in.

"River," she said, "I'll need to be away for some time. Command the soldiers in my absence. I have extremely urgent business to attend to."

"Where are you going, dearest?" King Butterfly asked.

"To Paris, France," she said. "Our daughter is in mortal trouble." The king nodded; he knew at once that the mission his wife was about to undertake was extremely important. "And I'll need you to send a message to an old friend of mine, he'll be able to help."

"Who?" King Butterfly said, a bit confused.

Queen Moon paused. "Yvgeny Bolgoyaboff," she said at last.

* * *

Back in the basement of the tower, the captives lay strung up in the web, anxiously awaiting the return of Wayzz and the people who Marco suggested the assistance of. They knew that the fate of the entire world depended on their timely arrival. The only question now is whether they would come in time.

Just then a dimensional hole ripped open, and out stepped a tall, regal lady that Marinette had never seen before. She had light blue eyes, flowing pale blue hair that was flowing freely, and was wearing a gray and silver suit of battle armor with a metal dress, a belt with a diamond buckle, and a gold tiara with a purple diamond in the center. Even the magenta blushes on her face were diamond-shaped. _Whoever she is, she must really like diamonds_ , Marinette thought to herself.

Next to step out of the portal was a large humanoid amphibian with yellow eyes, dark green lips, and webbed wings on each side of his head. It wore a light green tunic without any shoulder pads and a gray belt with a skull buckle on it. Everyone gasped; for a second, they thought it was Buff Toad. But upon closer inspection, it was apparent that this new creature was nothing like him; its yellow eyes were much more compassionate but determined, and its skin was green instead of mud brown.

The third to exit the hole was a flying light blue unicorn head with a pink mane, teal eyes with gold stars for pupils, and a striped horn. It was wearing a cocky and determined grin on its face, and appeared to be holding (if one could even say that) several leashes that were attached to puppies. Rose's mouth opened in joyous surprise at the sight of the third creature. She could not believe that she was actually seeing a unicorn up close.

Last but not least was Wayzz, who was carrying the Moth Miraculous, which had attracted quite a large number of pure white butterflies. He had an air of triumph around him and was leading four people out: a large, bulky man with black-and-gray hair wearing a dark blue dress suit and a blue sweater underneath; a woman wearing a red turtleneck with a black dress outfit; a girl with short blue hair and brown eyes who was wearing an olive green shirt, a turquoise jacket, a yellow skirt, brown boots, and an olive green beanie hat; and finally, another girl with wavy, shoulder-length platinum blond hair with an aquamarine streak on the left side, mint green eyes, and freckles, who was wearing a green and white shirt, an orange seashell necklace, cyan jean shorts, green and white kneesocks, and blue and white sneakers. Marco's widened in surprise upon seeing these two; he was obviously not expecting their company.

"Janna? Jackie?" he asked in utter disbelief, then turned to the turtle kwami. "No, no, nononononononono! Wayzz, what are Janna and Jackie doing here? I specifically requested Queen Moon, Buff Frog, and Pony Head for the fight!"

"You'd be surprised," Pony Head said, smirking a little. "After we told them that we were off to save the world, they decided that they wanted in. And they weren't gonna take no for an answer, either."

Marco groaned. It was bad enough that everyone knew of his crush on Marinette, but he could only imagine how the situation was going to get worse once the akumatized Star saw Jackie fighting alongside him.

"Relax, Marco," Janna smiled mischievously at him. "You might need us more than you think."

"Oh don't worry, I'll be sure to find a way," Marco snarked.

"Marco," Jackie said to him, "we all heard what happened to Star and . . . let's just say we're sorry."

"Thanks, Jackie, but Adrien"-he motioned to the blond boy on his lower right with his head-"kinda beat you to the punch. Thanks, though." Adrien smiled at her nervously. Marinette stared at Jackie. So this was the girl who used to be Marco's girlfriend. She seemed nice enough, but she couldn't fathom why things were not working out between the two of them. This was not important at the moment, though.

"Who are you?" she asked the tall regal lady, who smiled a little.

"I am Moon Butterfly, Queen of Mewni and mother to Star," the woman said. "And you are Marinette Dupain-Cheng, I presume?"

Marinette blushed. "How do you know my name, Your Majesty?"

"The turtle-kwami, is it?-told me all about you," Moon said, pointing back to Wayzz.

"I'd hate to interrupt this meeting," Alya interrupted, "but we're on a deadline, emphasis on _dead_."

"She's right," Max added. "Who knows how long we have until they come back down here to enslave us?"

Marco pondered. Then, an idea struck him like lightning. "Buff Frog," he addressed the green humanoid frog. "Can you get us out of here?"

"Of course," Buff Frog said in his natural Russian accent. He moved behind the web. "Stay still." He cracked his knuckles, then, in one move, ripped the entire web apart. Instantly, everyone fell off and landed on the floor. A few kids stood up and brushed off any dirt they may have accumulated.

"You are like, so awesome," Juleka said to Buff Frog, smiling. Buff Frog grinned in return.

"Is that so, Juleka?" Marco asked in a deadpan manner. "I have a feeling that you and Janna are going to get along just fine." He turned to Buff Frog. "Until we attack, you should try to be as quiet as possible. Understood?"

"Understood, Karate Boy," Buff Frog nodded.

Marco nodded back. "Now, where is the Moth Brooch?" Wayzz flew over to him and deposited the Miraculous next to him. "I'd be careful," he whispered. "Nooroo's not feeling too good."

 _Who's Nooroo?_ Marco thought to himself. But when he opened the brooch, he saw a small, light purple kwami with tiny butterfly wings that had a long tail with a tip at the end of each lower wing and a slightly darker purple spiral mark on his forehead. The kwami was coughing violently, almost as if it were sick.

"Nooroo?" Marco asked, not wanting to disturb him.

The butterfly kwami looked up at with doleful purple eyes. "That's . . . me," it rasped weakly, then continued to cough. Marco immediately felt sorry for him; he knew that the poor creature suffered a lot under Hawk Moth's abuse. He turned to Master Fu. "I don't suppose you know how to heal him?"

"He's right," Marinette added. "After all, you _were_ able to heal Tikki when she got sick from the rain."

"Of course I can," Master Fu said. "My poor little Nooroo. I'll heal you as best as I can." He faced both of his palms outwards towards Nooroo and stayed motionless and silent for a few minutes. A few minutes later, Nooroo flew up out of his Miraculous, overjoyed that he had been healed.

"Whoa," Jackie said, clearly amazed. "How are you able to do that?"

"Ancient Chinese secret," Master Fu said simply, smiling mysteriously.

"Right," Marco said. "Now, how do you activate this?" He turned to Nooroo questioningly, who flew up and whispered something in his ear. Marco smiled. He stood up, fastened the Moth Brooch onto his hoodie, and held out his arms wide. "Nooroo, Dark Wings, Rise!" he chanted. A swarm of butterflies covered him, and Nooroo felt himself being sucked into the Moth Miraculous. Perhaps Marinette was seeing things, but Nooroo looked almost _happy_ that he was going back in. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that his jewel was now being used properly. The swarm of butterflies lifted, and before she knew it, she, along with everyone else, was looking at Hawk Moth-if he had suddenly shrunk down a few and a half sizes and had slightly darker skin.

Marco took a look at his new outfit. "Well?" he asked. "How do I look?"

"Like a junior Hawk Moth," Wayzz noted dryly.

"Right," Marco noted. "Now I need some positive emotions to work with here. Can anyone here give me anything?"

Silence. No one said anything.

"No one?" Marco said. "Nothing?"

"Well," Nathaniel said, "I usually feel happy whenever I'm working on my drawings or pretending I'm my superhero character."

"And I'm usually happy whenever I'm skateboarding or hanging out with friends," Jackie piped up hopefully.

"Okay," Marco said. "Let's try that." Both Jackie and Nathaniel closed their eyes, and tried to imagine the scenarios that made them happy. At last, Marco felt something warm inside his suit; he knew that he was experiencing their positive emotions. He held out his left hand, and two butterflies landed on it. He covered them with his right hand, and dark energy collected itself onto the two butterflies. The akumatized butterflies flew over to Nathaniel and Jackie, taking control of their pencil and seashell necklace, respectively. Both of them looked up, feeling something ignite, looks of determination on both of their faces.

"Can you hear me?" Marco's voice echoed in both of their heads. Both of them nodded. "Good. I'm going to call you . . . Super Nathan. And Jackie, your new name will be Ocean Girl." They nodded again and purple smoke covering their bodies. When it disappeared, Jackie had become a figure that appeared to be made entirely out of water; her eyes were a solid aquamarine and she was wearing a pure white seashell necklace, along with a gown that was also apparently made of water and adorned with a red starfish. Nathaniel, meanwhile, had become a light purple-skinned figure wearing a black butterfly mask and a white suit with black stripes and solid black legs that became red halfway down his lower legs. His orange hair now had purple tips and was brushed back while styled with a beret. His shirt now had a swan-necked collar and had the design of a black circle with smaller red, yellow, and blue circle. He had a black drawing tablet attached to his right forearm and had a silver-tipped pen in his left hand. Chloe let out a small squeak of terror. Marinette could not blame her; after all, Nathaniel's new hero form looked strongly like his form when he was the Evilustrator.

"Well?" said Marinette uncertainly. "What do you think?"

"I think," Marco said, an air of decisive finality in his voice, "we are ready to make our move now."

 **Up next: the start of the final battle!**


	15. The Final Battle Begins

**As this is the first time I've written a battle scene, I hope I pulled this off well.**

The Final Battle Begins

"Concentrate harder!" Hawk Moth said to Ludo. "It has to be just right if we are to see her perfectly!"

"I'm working on it!" Ludo called back, a bit annoyed.

The two supervillains were currently using their magic to resurrect Hawk Moth's lost wife while their minions stood, watching. Hawk Moth fired two blasts of white energy at Ludo, who had responded in turn by firing the green magic from his staff at the two blasts. In the middle where the two energies met, a large magical sphere had started forming. The room had drastically changed appearance as well; instead of being a simple circular observatory room, it was now a rectangular throne room that was larger than a football stadium. The general tint of the room was a hellish-looking red and yellow. All around the room, purple statues of all the akumas that Hawk Moth created in the past stood upright, while at the far end of the room, two statues made of jade and emeralds stood, depicting the two supervillains triumphing over their respective enemies. At the base of the statues, two intricately designed thrones were made, conjoined side-by-side. Hawk Moth's window was the only part that remained unchanged. A throne room fit for two kings indeed.

"There!" Hawk Moth unleashed one final bolt of energy, and then something miraculous happened. The magic sphere started taking on the form of a human being. But it wasn't just any human being. It was . . .

"Tara?" Hawk Moth said as he saw the outline of his beloved take form. The woman opened her eyes, as if from a deep sleep, and took a look at her surroundings.

"Michel?" she asked, a bit confused. "Where . . . where am I?"

"Tara," Hawk Moth said to the woman, his voice full of emotion and longing. "I've missed you all these months."

"What is going on?" Tara said, getting an eyeful of Ludo. "And who is he?"

"A friend of mine," Hawk Moth said simply. "It is because of him that I am able to see you again."

"It's been so long," the woman said. "What has happened?"

"Allow me to bring you up to speed," Hawk Moth said.

* * *

Meanwhile, the party that had been released from the dungeons made its way up the long spiral staircase. Marinette felt nervous. This was their only chance to finally set things right and stop Hawk Moth from doing any more damage. He already had exposed her identity to their classmates; she did not need him causing any more mayhem.

"So," Ocean Girl said to Marinette, turning to her as she walked, "I hear you're Marco's new girl now."

"That's . . . about right," Marinette said. "He told me you guys broke up. Why is that?"

Ocean Girl let out a chuckle that was both casual and sad. "Poor kid has major self-esteem issues. He's had a crush on me ever since kindergarten. We were an item at first, but he basically wanted to end the relationship because he felt that we weren't syncing."

"Sounds like someone I know," Marinette muttered sadly. "It's like he put you on a pedestal so high that he can't ever hope to get up there with you."

Meanwhile, farther down the line, Gabriel was deep in discussion with Natalie and the Gorrilla. From what he had learned, after the Green-Eyed Butterfly had abducted him, they went on a frantic search around the city. They had just gotten back inside when Hawk Moth's purple wave had enveloped the entire sky, therefore avoiding getting controlled.

"I got your message, sir," Natalie said. "Did you not get mine?"

"Unfortunately, no," Gabriel said. "That . . . thing had attacked me and was on its way here by then."

"My legs are killing me!" Chloe whined from farther down the line. "And my makeup is ruined! How much farther do we have to go?"

Alya turned to face her, a look of sheer annoyance on her face and her eyes practically smoldering of fire.

"Do what you want, Chloe!" she snapped. "We don't care anymore! You and your father are more than welcome to leave!"

Chloe stopped complaining after that. Alya turned around and continued walking, not saying another word after that, her face still marked with betrayal, anger, and sadness. Marinette sighed. She hoped that, after all this, she and Alya could still be on friendly terms. They didn't have to be BFFs anymore; all she hoped for now was that Alya would still talk to her. If only she had confided in her best friend when she had the chance! But the oath of secrecy had prevented her from doing so.

Farther down, Rose was deep in conversation with Pony Head, fascinated by the puppies that she had brought along.

"Can I please, please, please pet one of those puppies?" she squealed in delight.

"Of course," Pony Head smirked. "If you want to get laser blasts all over you."

Rose looked at her in confusion. "Excuse me?"

"Oh, didn't I tell you?" Pony Head said deviously. "These puppies can shoot lasers out of their eyes at any given time."

Rose looked nervously at the puppies. "Uh, never mind!" she said. She stayed quiet after that, not saying a word to Pony Head at all. Pony Head smirked mischievously at her.

At last, they reached a set of ornately decorated double doors. Marco knew at once that something evil was waiting for them on the other side, judging by the cold that he was feeling.

"Brace yourselves, everyone," he said to the oncoming group. "Pretty soon, it's gonna get a little wild."

* * *

"So what has happened in these few months when I was away?" the image of Tara asked Hawk Moth.

"I have been looking for ways to bring you back to life, my love," Hawk Moth said. "And to that end, I sought the Ladybug and Cat Miraculouses, and despite many, many setbacks, I finally succeeded. Of course, I needed some of Ludo's magic to get a clearer image of you."

The image raised an eyebrow. "How is our son doing?"

Hawk Moth paused. What should he say?

"He's here," said a familiar voice. Surprised, Hawk Moth turned around to see that all his prisoners had broken free from their bonds and were now staring back at him, pure hate etched into their faces. He also spotted a few new faces in the crowd.

"Who are these people?" Tara asked Hawk Moth. Adrien stepped forward.

"Mom?" he asked uncertainly. "Is . . . is that really you?"

"Of course, dear," Tara said in a loving voice. "But . . . what's going on?"

"Would you like the long version or the short version?" Marinette remarked.

"Long story short," Marco spoke up, motioning over to Hawk Moth and Ludo, "they stole my friends' Miraculouses and used them to enslave the entire world."

Tara glared at Hawk Moth. "Michel, I always knew that you were much more ambitious than your brother, but this, this is by far the lowest you've ever stooped. Is one human life worth the cost of so many others?"

"I . . . I . . . I did all of this for you, my love!" Hawk Moth stammered. "You should be appreciative of the fact that I've had to jump through a lot of hoops just to be able to speak with you tonight!"

"I wish I could," Tara said sadly. "But I think you should ask yourself, is it really worth it? Are the needs of just one person worth destroying an entire world for?"

Hawk Moth's eye twitched. He had come so far just to be able to speak with her, and he was not going to be denied!

"Who cares?!" he yelled. "All that matters is that I get to see you one more time, and nothing, and I repeat, nothing was going to stop me!"

He made a move as if to attack her, but was stopped dead in his tracks by a glass wall that materialized out of nowhere. The image of his wife suddenly disappeared. Surprised, he turned to face his enemies and saw that a familiar face had appeared in the crowd.

"Evilustrator?" he asked, confused. "What are you doing here?"

"It's Super Nathan to you," the akumatized superhero remarked. "And she was right, you know. Enslaving an entire planet just to bring back one person from the dead sounds pretty selfish."

"The question is, what are _you_ doing here?" Hawk Moth shot back.

"Funny you should say that," Super Nathan remarked. "Maybe leaving your old Miraculous behind after getting the ones you've always wanted wasn't the brightest idea you've ever had." He motioned to Marco.

"Well played, kiddo," Hawk Moth chuckled, now addressing Marco. "Using my own Miraculous against me? I admit, even _I_ never saw that coming." Buff Toad rolled his eyes in annoyance. "However, you still fail to understand what it takes to be a true Miraculous holder."

"Funny," Marco retorted, "because that statement is more applicable to you. Have you any idea what the bond between a Miraculous holder and a kwami should be?"

"Of course I do, dear child," Hawk Moth responded in an equally cold, unfeeling manner. "The bond must be based entirely on strength and dominance. The holder must enforce his will over the kwami if he is to achieve anything."

"You're wrong," Adrien spoke up. "The bond must be one of love and trust. You unlock your full potential by working _with_ the kwami. Trying to enforce your will over it will only bring untold suffering for you."

Hawk Moth laughed. "I appreciate your simple-minded wisdom. But you're just a kid who doesn't know anything he's talking about. Only adults can make true superheroes, don't you know that? You're all just kids."

"Yeah? Well, these 'kids' now have a way to end you and your reign of terror once and for all," Marinette snapped back at him.

"You kidnap our friends," Buff Frog growled, "you suffer consequences." He cracked his knuckles.

"I can't understand you with that accent," Hawk Moth replied in an expressionless manner.

"Basically," Alya translated, "he's gonna bust you up. And so are we."

Ludo cackled; this statement was most hilarious. "Oh, so you kids wanna tussle?" He charged up a green fireball with his staff and hurled it at the group. The party had to scatter just to avoid getting hit, and the fireball hit the doorway instead. Marco took a look at the now-scorched doorway, then at the sorcerer Ludo.

"Attack!" he declared. Instantly, a war cry rose up from both groups, and both parties advanced toward each other rapidly.

The whole room had turned into a complete war zone. Blasts of magic were being fired from both sides. All of Marinette's classmates started attacking Ludo's monsters with whatever they could get their hands on. Marinette looked all around her, careful to be on her guard. Every time one of Ludo's men attacked her, she used the karate skills she had developed with Marco to fight back, karate chopping and roundhouse kicking her way through the sea of oncoming enemies.

Unfortunately, that was not enough to save herself. Just as she had managed to send a deer-like creature with a beard flying, a humongous spider with four red eyes attacked her, encasing her in its sticky webbing. Marinette tripped and turned to face the creature with horror. She deduced that this must be the same spider that created the enormous web down in the dungeons.

Just when she thought she would become the spider's next meal, the creature's eyes widened with surprise as something lifted it up and tossed it out of the way. Marinette looked up and saw that Kim and Ivan were looking down at her, smiling.

"Need a hand?" Ivan offered. He ripped the web encasing Marinette apart.

"I don't believe this," Marinette said in disbelief. "You guys . . . are _helping_ me?"

"Duh!" Kim grinned at her warmly. "You've been doing the same thing to us since, like, forever!"

"A shame you couldn't have told us who you really were earlier, though," Ivan agreed. "Would have saved a whole lotta trouble." He turned around and punched a zebracorn square in its jaw while Kim decided to grapple with the monster spider.

 _Good,_ Marinette said. _At least I'm not_ totally _hated by everyone._ She got up and starting attacking the nearest bad guy she could find. Now it was time to find Adrien and her parents.

The throne room was a complete madhouse. All the combatants on either side were going all out on the other, not holding anything back. Buff Frog was fighting with Buff Toad. Ocean Girl and Super Nathan helped fend off an energy attack from Hawk Moth aimed directly for Natalie, Gabriel, and the Gorrilla. Janna was going toe-to-toe with one of Ludo's monsters. Alya was taking on a chicken-like creature. Even Chloe and her father got in on the battle, deciding to take on the Green Eyed Butterfly directly. Unamused, the Butterfly shook both the combatants off its back and decided to engage Queen Moon, who had assumed her Mewberty form. It did a series of stances, then aimed its wand straight at her.

" _ **WARNICORN STAMPEDE**_ _!"_ the Butterfly roared. A horde of black-and-purple unicorns came out of nowhere and ran straight at Queen Moon, who had to fly just to get out of the attack range. She sadly looked at the monster who was now glaring hatefully back at her.

"What did that monster do to you?" she whispered in quiet horror.

The Butterfly growled menacingly, then shrieked as it charged at her.

Meanwhile, Janna had just finished beating up her opponent, only to get hit with a blast from Ludo. She looked up as she saw him advance menacingly on her.

"You think you can stop me?" he asked her in disgust. "You think that I, Ludo Avarius, will surrender to the likes of you?" He fired another blast, which she avoided by rolling out of the way. "I am a god, you dull creature, and I will not be cowed into submission by a pathetic Earthling who . . .WAUGH!"

Ludo had stepped into a hole that Super Nathan had just created with his tablet. The sorcerer fell down to the floor below and resounded with a spectacular crash. Janna looked blankly at Super Nathan, who shrugged at her.

"Puny god," he said simply, then went off to rejoin the battle.

Meanwhile, Pony Head had finally unleashed the laser puppies into the battle, and they started shooting lasers from their eyes everywhere at both friend and foe. Those who got hit reeled over in pain. Pony Head, meanwhile, started shooting her magic at Hawk Moth, who created a force field to block her attacks.

In yet another section of the battle, Adrien was taking on a humongous bird that was trying to bite his head off. After he brushed it away with his karate moves that he learned from his sensei, he found that he had backed himself into the last person he would have expected: Marinette.

"Funny how things turned out tonight, huh?" he said to her.

"I know!" Marinette replied in agreement. "It just seems so weird! I mean, who would have guessed that we both had a thing for each other without the other knowing! Look out!"

The giant bird had come back, and dove straight for Adrien. Marinette jumped on top of the bird, and grappled with it for control, eventually bringing it under her control and using it to attack the enemy.

Marco observed the ongoing chaos around him. It was clear that despite his allies giving the enemies everything they got, they were still no closer to taking back the Miraculouses that Hawk Moth stole. He lit up the butterfly masks around Ocean Girl and Super Nathan.

"Ocean Girl, Super Nathan," he said, "I'll need your help. It's time to take back what doesn't belong to Hawk Moth, if you catch my drift."

"What should we do?" Super Nathan said.

Marco smiled. Maybe Janna could be of some use after all. "Ocean Girl, see if you can get Janna. We're gonna need her pick pocketing skills."

"On it!" Ocean Girl said. She turned to a puddle of water and trickled all the way over to Janna, completely undetected by Ludo's forces. She re-emerged as a blob of water, and whispered something in Janna's ear. A mischievous smile formed on Janna's face.

"I thought you'd never ask," she said.

At that moment, Ludo managed to climb up through the magically-erased hole out of the wreckage from below. He took a look at his men and seethed. His men were starting to lose the high ground!

"Attack, you fools! Attack!" he yelled. He raised his staff-only to find that nothing was there!

"Looking for something?" he heard a snide voice say. The warlock turned around to find that Janna had stolen his staff from right under his nose! Smirking, Janna aimed the staff at Ludo, firing a green lightning bolt and him that struck him square in the chest. This did not go unnoticed by Hawk Moth, who started hurling balls of energy at Janna. She countered each of his attacks, then continued to fight the overlord to a standstill. As they traded blows, Hawk Moth failed to notice a blob of ocean water with a red starfish position itself directly underneath him. The blob started expanding itself, then jumped up into the sky, encasing him in it.

"Now!" Marco said to Super Nathan, who quickly started drawing various sea creatures on his tablet. The creatures materialized in the water and started to attack Hawk Moth's hand and ears.

" _ **NARWHAL BLAST!"**_ the Green-Eyed Butterfly roared, aiming it at Ocean Girl. Instantly, a shower of angry narwhal whales with glowing red eyes rained down on the battlefield, and everyone took care to watch out for the falling whales attempting to skewer them with their horns. Super Nathan took quick notice of this, and quickly drew chains around the Butterfly, who shot down onto the floor, her transformed wand now inches in front of her face, where she could see it but not use it. She roared angrily.

 _Forgive me, Star,_ Marco thought sadly.

"I got them!" Ocean Girl cried at last. In her watery hand, she held up three pieces of jewelry- the Miraculouses. Unfortunately, Hawk Moth was not going down without a fight.

"STOP HER!" he yelled at Ludo's men. Another angry cry resounded, and they charged at her, clearly intending to deliver the Miraculouses back to their master's ally. Panicking, Ocean Girl tossed the Miraculouses over to Max, who caught them with both of his hands. The monsters changed targets and ran straight for him.

"Kim!" Max shouted. "Go long!" Kim backed up, and Max tossed the jewels his way. Kim caught the jewels, and the spider he had been fighting pounced on top of him.

"Ivan, heads up!" he yelled, then tossed them in Ivan's direction. Ivan caught the earrings but not the Cat Ring, which rolled away on the floor-right into Buff Frog's foot.

"I got it!" Buff Frog yelled, picking up the ring.

"Toss it over here!" Nino yelled. And Buff Frog did just that, only for Ludo's bird to catch it midflight. Marinette wrestled the bird in midair, fighting for possession of the Miraculous. Eventually, she emerged victorious, and dropped down so that she could deliver it to Adrien.

"Alya!" Ivan tossed the earrings over to Alya, who caught them in her hands. She tossed them over to Mylene, who then tossed it over to Chloe, who tossed them over to Juleka, who tossed them over to Wayzz, who delivered it to Rose.

"Marinette!" Rose yelled. "Hurry up!" The monsters angrily charged toward her.

"I'm coming, Rose!" Marinette shouted in panic. She frantically searched for Adrien so that she could deliver him the Miraculous. At last, she spotted him, currently engaging in combat with a chicken-like monster trying to peck him. She delivered a roundhouse kick and sent the monster flying through the air.

"Here," she said. "Make sure this doesn't get taken away again." Adrien nodded, then put the ring on. Instantly, Plagg reappeared, overjoyed to be serving his rightful master again.

"Adrien!" he cried, relieved. "I'm so glad to see you again!"

"Same here, buddy!" Adrien smiled.

 _Good,_ Marinette thought. _Now for mine._ She waded her way through the scene of combatants, driving off every monster who stood in her way. At last, she reached Rose, who was holding the earrings of the ladybug in her hand. Ludo's men surged forward in an attempt to stop her, but were instantly driven back by a black-and-white circular disk that was flying their way. Pretty soon, another disk flew their way, sending them screaming in terror, and Super Nathan smirked. He was doing a pretty good job holding the enemy at bay.

"Here you go," Rose said, "and be careful!" She put the earrings in Marinette's hand and disappeared. Marinette wasted no time. She quickly put the earrings on and instantly, Tikki reappeared, a big smile on her face.

"Tikki!" Marinette smiled. "I'm so glad you're back!"

"Me too!" Tikki chirped happily."Now, let's end this!"

"NO!" Hawk Moth shouted. "It's not possible!"

"TIKKI, SPOTS ON!" Marinette shouted.

"PLAGG, CLAWS OUT!" Adrien shouted.

The kwamis found themselves sucked into their respective Miraculouses and the costumes appeared once again on their rightful owners' bodies. Everyone watched in amazement as a blinding light covered the two. When the light subsided, a most wondrous sight met everyone's eyes.

Ladybug and Cat Noir had officially returned.

 **Up next: The Green-Eyed Butterfly** _ **finally**_ **gets de-evilized!**

 **Only three more chapters! Woohoo!**


	16. It All Ends

**After so many chapters, everyone's favorite Mewni princess comes back.**

It All Ends

"Good news is," Cat Noir said, cracking his knuckles, "our powers are back."

"The bad news?" Ladybug continued. "Our powers are back!" She and Cat Noir charged forward at the enemy. The monsters charged at them in response.

"Be careful, sweetie!" called Mrs. Cheng, who was helping Mr. Dupain, Mr. and Mrs. Diaz, Natalie, and Gabriel take on Ludo's pet bird and a slew of his other minions. The Gorilla, meanwhile, was punching his way through the horde of monsters heading his way, with assistance from Queen Moon.

"Got it, Mom!" Ladybug called back. She started beating up all her enemies with her fists, not wanting to make the same mistake that she made with Buff Toad.

Now that the heroes had been restored, Marco decided that now was a good time to take a more active approach in the battle. He dove headfirst into a pit of monsters, and brandished his cane like it was a sword.

"I'll take all of you on!" he declared. The monsters charged at him in response, preparing to overwhelm him. Then, all of a sudden, Cat Noir jumped into the fray alongside him.

"Thanks for the assist, Adrien!" Marco said to his partner sincerely.

"How did you know my-ohhhhh, you saw me transform," Cat Noir replied, having just realized the fact.

"Mhm," Marco agreed, punching a monster in its guts. "Though to be honest, we had our suspicions long before your identities were revealed."

"You don't say," Cat Noir replied, delivering a massive kick to a monster that looked like a massive fly.

"I mean, the disguises hardly covered anything on your faces," Marco said. "How did nobody catch that?"

Cat Noir opened his mouth in response, but a large explosion sounded out of nowhere, accompanied by a loud shrieking. Marco turned to the source of the commotion, and found, to his horror, that the Green-Eyed Butterfly had broken free of her chains, the blushes on her cheeks now lighting up angrily. She held out her hand, and her akumatized wand flew into it. On the far side of the room, Janna and Super Nathan looked at the spectacle in surprise, and Ludo used this momentary distraction to steal his staff back from her. He fired a green beam at Hawk Moth, who once again rose into the air and assumed his ultimate power form.

"Where could the akuma be?" Cat Noir asked Marco.

"My best guess says it's inside her wand," Marco replied. "I've almost never seen her without it."

"You know," Cat Noir said, "when I first met Star, I had a crush on her. But now that she's been akumatized, I don't know what to feel."

Marco chuckled, a bit sadly. "No offense, but I don't think she ever really was into you to begin with. I was the one she was crushing on for a long time."

"Ah. I see. Cover me, will you?" Cat Noir said. "I have to inform Ladybug about where Star's akuma is." And with that, he scampered off to find his partner.

"Sure, I guess," Marco said. He turned to face his opponents, and then charged at them, cane in hand.

* * *

Meanwhile, Ladybug was having the fight of her life. The newly-repowered Hawk Moth was certainly keeping her on her toes, alternating between firing energy lasers and balls of fire at her. She was doing her best to avoid all of these attacks, but with Ludo's men backing her adversary up, it was a miracle that she didn't get hit even once.

"Ladybug!"

Ladybug backflipped to avoid a blast of energy that Hawk Moth had sent her way and landed right beside her partner. "What is it, Cat Noir?"

"I think I know where Star's akuma is located," Cat Noir said. "Inside her wand!"

"That much I had figured," Ladybug replied in return, repelling an attack from a zebracorn.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the room, Ludo had engaged in a fierce battle with Super Nathan, clearly wanting to make him pay for humiliating him in front of his opponents. Ludo fired shot after shot at the superhero, but Super Nathan quickly met him blow for blow. At last, Ludo, having had enough, fired a powerful green blast that hit Super Nathan's tablet. It hit the floor and shattered into a thousand pieces.

"Not so tough without that tablet now, are you, boy?" Ludo snarled at Super Nathan, brandishing his staff menacingly at him.

"Uh, Marinette, any time now!" Super Nathan called, panicked. Ocean Girl quickly moved between the two combatants to protect her partner and started sending watery attacks his way.

Ladybug, apprehensive that her team was starting to lose again, shouted, "LUCKY CHARM!" She spun her yoyo in the air, which revealed-

"A long piece of rope?" she asked in confusion, staring at the object. She stared at the chaotic surroundings. At last, she made a connection.

"Marco!" she called over the din of the combatants. "See if you can get through to Star!"

"Me?" Marco asked. "Why?"

"You're the only one who can calm her down!" Ladybug replied. "I need time to create a lasso!"

Marco gulped. He wasn't sure how the Butterfly would react to having to face him after he had gotten her upset. But there was no time to dwell on the matter. The fate of the entire world was at stake here, and since he felt that it was his fault, he had no choice but to set things right.

"All right," he said shakily. "Here goes nothing. Star!"

The akuma turned to face him angrily, having just sent an opponent packing with a corrupted Shooting Star Explosion. " **What is it, Marco Diaz? Haven't you hurt me enough already?** "

"Yes! And I'm sorry!" Marco cried.

The Butterfly, which had raised its wand to attack him, lowered it instead and looked at him in confusion. " **Come again?** " it asked, in an uncharacteristically confused tone.

It was as if time was suddenly slowing to a stop. It felt as though the two of them were the only ones who were not fighting amidst the sea of combatants.

"I'm sorry, okay?" Marco repeated, desperate to get through to his best friend. "I never meant to make you jealous! I'm sorry that I never paid you much attention during this trip! And I'm sorry for probably being the worst friend ever! But I just want to say . . . _I LOVE YOU, STAR BUTTERFLY!_ "

The akuma's eyes widened in surprise; it had obviously never expected this. " **Marco?** " it asked, its voice now sounding a lot like the Star he knew and loved. " **Is . . . is that true?** "

"Yes!" Marco cried in anguish. "Ever since I learned about your crush on me, I promised myself that I would bring you back! Because the truth is, you're not a mindless akuma! You're not a slave of Hawk Moth's, or anyone's, for that matter! You are Star Butterfly, Princess of Mewni, and my best friend!"

The akuma stared back at him, completely touched by this heartfelt gesture. It let go of the wand, which dropped to the floor, and ran over to hug him. At that moment, Ladybug struck. She lassoed the wand and brought it towards her.

"Cat Noir!" she called. "Destroy the wand!"

"CATACLYSM!" Cat Noir yelled, activating his superpower. He sunk his claws into the corrupted wand, which erupted into a large shockwave that knocked everyone onto the floor and released the evil butterfly that had taken residence in it. Queen Moon looked on, utterly horrified and disgusted that the symbol of her forefathers' family had been treated with such disrespect, taken over by evil, and destroyed. Super Nathan's pen and Ocean Girl's necklace also broke open from the impact, releasing the two good akumas which had taken control of their objects.

"You've done enough for today," Ladybug said to the butterflies, spinning her yoyo. "TIME TO DE-EVILIZE!" She threw her yoyo at the akumas. "Gotcha!" She captured the akumas, then opened the yoyo.

"Farewell, little butterflies," she said to the butterflies that had come out, then tossed the rope into the air. "Miraculous Ladybug!"

The rope dissolved into a wave of red, which restored the room to its original appearance and repaired the destroyed wand, crystal and all, much to Queen Moon's relief. The wave also went outside and covered the entire world, restoring it to its previous appearance as the people under Hawk Moth's control suddenly were snapped out of their trances and returned to normal, looking about in confusion as they wondered what had happened.

Back on Mewni, King River looked on in amazement as the red wave went across the sky, turning the empowered monsters, who were about to enter the castle and tear it down, back to their previous forms. He smiled; he knew at once that the battle had been won. Meanwhile, back at the tower in Paris, purple-black smoke covered the Green-Eyed Butterfly, and it reverted back to Star, who was groaning and looking around in confusion.

"Where . . . where am I?" she asked Ladybug and Cat Noir.

"We'll explain later," Cat Noir assured her. "But first, we have unfinished business to attend to." He motioned toward the defeated Hawk Moth and Ludo, both of whom were now depowered (and in Ludo's case, given back his original form and wand) and were groaning in pain. His transformation timed out, and he changed back to Adrien Agreste. Ladybug, meanwhile, had changed back into Marinette, while purple-black smoke covered the two formerly akumatized superheroes and reverted them back to Nathaniel and Jackie, respectively.

"Michel Agreste," Queen Moon addressed the defeated overlord coldly, "on behalf of the Royal Family and the Magical High Commission, I charge you with crimes against both the Earth and Mewni dimensions. I suggest you surrender now."

Hawk Moth glared at his enemies before him. He had achieved his secret dream, only to have these pathetic weaklings take away everything he had worked so hard for!

"It's over," Marinette said calmly. "You've lost."

With a great deal of effort, Hawk Moth and Ludo finally managed to get to their feet, and Hawk Moth shot one last murderous glare at his enemies- the heroes, the formerly akumatized students, the adults, and the Mewmans.

"There's nothing you can dream up that'll come close to what I have in store for you in the future, Marinette Dupain-Cheng and Adrien Agreste!" he declared, pointing a finger at them. With that, Ludo raised his wand, and conjured up a large smokescreen cloud that obscured everyone else's vision. When the cloud had cleared, Hawk Moth, Ludo, and their minions had disappeared; the only thing that could be seen was a dimensional hole that was closing itself up.

"We'll see each other again, Ludo," Queen Moon muttered under her breath. Marinette turned to face her.

"You know who that bird monster is, Your Grace?" she asked her.

"Indeed," Queen Moon affirmed. "He has been after our family's wand for quite some time, and a few months ago, he managed to steal our family's spellbook. Luckily, we managed to recover it a month or so after he had-"

"Oh no!"

Everyone turned to the source of the outburst to find Star holding the head of the now unconscious Marco in her hands, evidently distressed. The Moth Brooch had come off of his hoodie, and he had reverted to his normal appearance. It was clear that the shockwave from the wand had hit him the hardest.

"Marco's injured!" she cried, worried. "We need to get him to a hospital, now!"

 **Only two chapters left, everyone!**


	17. Just Friends

**One more chapter after this, everyone! :D**

 **Also, Starco and Adrienette shippers rejoice!**

Just Friends

The ambulance blared its way through the dark Parisian night, carrying the unconscious Marco in its bed. Both Star and Marinette volunteered to watch over him as he lay in his bed, trying to recover from his injury. It was hard to determine who was feeling worse about the whole ordeal- Star or Mari. Both girls had convinced themselves that they were the sole reason that they had gotten themselves into this mess. Star blamed herself, because after Marinette told her what had happened while she was akumatized before the ambulance arrived, she, Star, believed that if she had just told Marco how she had felt about him earlier, then he would have spent more time with her. Marinette, meanwhile, felt that she deserved all the responsibility for this, because she was the one who gave Adrien-or was it Cat Noir?-the order to destroy Star's wand. She had really no idea that the wand could be destructive when it was destroyed.

Soon, the ambulance arrived at its destination, where Star's and Marinette's friends were waiting for them, having arrived before them by way of Queen Moon's dimensional scissors. The back doors of the ambulance opened, and the drivers unloaded the bed and delivered it into the hospital. Both girls got up and followed, not saying a single word and avoiding eye contact with everyone else, focusing only on the unconscious boy who lay in the bed before them. The rest of them trailed behind them, not saying a word, only stopping when they reached the waiting room. Marco's parents were sitting down and hugging each other with worry, wondering what would become of their son. Marinette's parents sat beside them, trying to console them as best as they could.

The other students and the Mewmans started filling up the lobby, wondering what would become of the patient. Soon, the only people who were standing were Star, Queen Moon, and King River, who Queen Moon had summoned to help calm their daughter down. Star turned to look at her mother, a look of utmost misery on her face. "Mom, Dad," she asked sadly, "will I . . . will I get in trouble for what I did?"

Queen Moon and King River turned to look at their daughter in surprise. "Of course not, dearest," King River said at last. "What makes you say that?"

"Because," Star whimpered, tears starting to form in her eyes, "I endangered all my friends tonight! I endangered both Earth and Mewni! How is anyone still speaking to me after all this?"

"If I may," interrupted a new voice, "I can assure you that none of this was your fault." Star turned to see that Master Fu had joined them without making so much as a small peep. Master Fu smiled at Star, then turned to face the king and queen. "Your Majesties, it was a pleasure getting to know your daughter and her best friend. They are some of the kindest, most compassionate people I have ever met. Neither of you is to punish her. Older and wiser people than she have been deceived by Hawk Moth." He turned back to Star, smiling. "My dear, if you really are worried about your friend that much, I suggest you go visit him in his room." Star wiped away the tears from her eyes, hardly believing that he didn't hold anything against her. "Go," Master Fu urged her. "He's waiting for you."

Star blinked, not saying anything. Then, without saying another word, she turned and when straight for Marco's room.

* * *

Star continued walking down the hallway until at last, she saw an open door where Marco lay, hooked up to various hospital equipment. He looked so peaceful in sleep that he might have even been dreaming. Star approached her best friend slowly, wondering what he was dreaming about.

"Everything okay?" came Kim's voice.

Star turned around forlornly to see that most of Marinette's classmates had come to pay their respects to her friend. At that moment, she didn't know what to feel. Some of them went up to them in an attempt to comfort her, but she would have none of it.

"Why aren't you guys mad at me?" The poor girl was on the verge of tears. "From what I found out, I helped Hawk Moth and Ludo almost take over both your world and mine. I abducted you, and I helped almost bring about the end of the world, and you guys still want to be my friends?"

"Star," Ivan said, hugging her tightly, "I think I can speak for all of us when I say that we all have been where you were a while ago."

Star sniffed sadly. "R-Really?"

"Oh yeah," Juleka said sympathetically. "We all have experienced what it was like to do horrific things and have no memory of it afterwards. It's safe to say that you're not alone in this issue." The other classmates muttered in agreement. Some of them appeared to be slightly discomforted.

"B-But what about Marco?" Star whimpered.

"He'll be okay," Mylene assured her. "The doctors will make sure of it. If there's anything we can do for you in this time of need, just let us know, okay?"

Star smiled a little; at least she knew for certain that she wasn't the only who had been traumatized by Hawk Moth. "Th-thanks, everyone," she said appreciatively, wiping her eyes and trying not to cry. "I really appreciate it."

"Anytime, old friend," Alix smiled. "Anytime." Beside her, Rose nodded her head in agreement.

* * *

Adrien sighed in the waiting room. In the course of one night, his entire life had been turned upside down. Not only was Nino no longer his best friend, but he had found out that most of his entire life had been a lie. Plagg hovered on his right shoulder, in an attempt to comfort him. They were so lost in thought that they didn't notice Nino come in and sit down next to them.

"Everything okay?" he asked hopefully. Plagg turned to face him.

"After what you put him through? Of course not," he snapped, uncharacteristically angry. "From what he told me, after his identity was revealed, you accused him of not trusting his secret. But has it ever occurred to you that maybe, just maybe, he didn't tell you because he wanted to protect you?"

Nino paused. At last, he said, "Look, I'm sorry about that. I didn't know what was going on. I mean, this is the first time I've ever heard about Miraculouses and kwamis and all those types of things. But the least you could have done was tell me, bro. I would've guarded that secret of yours with my life."

Adrien looked at him, not saying anything. How should he respond?

"I . . . completely understand if you don't want to speak with me ever again," Nino continued, more quietly this time. "Guess I'll have to find a new best friend," he added, more despondently.

Adrien and Plagg looked at him, then at each other. At last, Adrien said, "Nino, it's okay. Maybe we can start over again, only this time, no secrets from either of us."

Nino looked at his friend and the cat kwami in gratitude, then hugged him. At last, when he let go, Adrien got up.

"Plagg and I need to go somewhere for a few minutes," he said to Nino. "Wait here, will you?" He and Plagg turned and walked down the hallway.

* * *

Chloe sat in the waiting room, staring at nothing and nobody in particular. She was certain that not only was everyone bound to hate her guts now, but now that they knew that her father was indirectly responsible for endangering the city by encouraging her bratty behavior, they were all bound to hate him as well. Her father sat down in an empty seat by her side.

"Dad," she started, "did Mom really have to leave us when you two had that fight?"

"I wish she didn't," Mayor Bourgeois said, unusually somber and bitter. The events of the night were still fresh in his mind.

"Neither do I," Chloe muttered. "I wish that she had stayed with us, so that I never would have ended up like this."

Mayor Bourgeois did not say anything. Hawk Moth's words still buzzed around in his ears like angry, meddlesome, annoying gnats. _How did it feel to surrender all your authority to the policeman you fired on such flimsy grounds?_

"If you'll excuse me," Chloe said at last, getting up from her seat and trying to keep her voice stable, "I have to go now."

"Where?" Mayor Bourgeois asked.

"To make amends with someone," his daughter replied simply, then turned around and disappeared.

* * *

Marinette sat there, all alone in another part of the hospital lobby. Marco was on the verge of dying, and this was all her fault. Tikki flew up to her human in an attempt to console her over what had happened.

"I failed, Tikki," she said miserably.

"Pardon?" Tikki asked, confused.

"I failed," Marinette repeated. "As both Ladybug and Marinette."

"No you haven't!" Tikki protested. "You saved the world, Marinette, _two_ worlds, in fact! Not to mention deal a crushing blow to Hawk Moth and Ludo and safely recover the Moth Miraculous!"

"But at what cost?" Marinette snapped at her kwami. "I lost my best friend tonight, and now I'm sure that none of my classmates, aside from Kim and Ivan, want anything to do with me anymore! On top of that, it's my fault that Marco got injured! How would that make you feel?"

Tikki paused, unable to think of an answer.

"I'm sorry for what I'm about to do next, Tikki," Marinette continued sadly. "I hope you find a more worthy person to take up my mantle."

Tikki's eyes widened; she knew what Marinette was about to do next.

"Marinette, please, don't do this! I-"

But it was too late. Marinette had removed her earrings. Just like that, Tikki was gone. Marinette sighed. She hadn't felt this upset since the Stoneheart fiasco all those months ago.

"Goodbye, Tikki," she whispered sadly.

"So," said another voice, "you're finally giving up, huh?"

Marinette turned around. There stood Alya and Chloe, wearing expressions of utmost sympathy and compassion on their faces. Something she never would have expected from either of them at this point.

"Like you even care," Marinette muttered, loud enough for them to hear.

Chloe sat in an empty seat next to Marinette. "Listen," she said slowly, "I know it's probably about four years too late, but I never should have taken my frustrations out on you or our classmates. I've had a difficult childhood. You reminded me a lot of someone who used to make my life miserable, and my mother didn't exactly make things better when she filed for a divorce."

"Your point being?" Marinette asked testily.

Chloe sighed. "Look, I completely understand if you don't want to, but I'm hoping that we could start over again, as friends."

Marinette paused, considering. This was probably was just another ruse to lower her guard. At last she said, "Look, even if I do want to consider your offer, just a few hours ago, you called me a liar for not being open with any of you about my secret. But the thing is-"

"We know," Alya said, sitting on the seat on Marinette's other side. "And I'm sorry I accused you of that. I just spoke with Master Fu, and he said that he didn't want anyone knowing about the kwamis because he was afraid that if someone as bad as Hawk Moth found out, they could put us all in danger." She put a supportive arm on her friend's back. "You could have at least told me, girl. I assure you, I would have kept your secret safe."

Marinette didn't say anything, only fingered the earrings which she had removed. "Would either of you girls be interested in being the next Ladybug?"

Alya and Chloe looked at each other. At last, Alya said, "Oh no, we couldn't, Marinette. Master Fu chose _you_ , girl. I'm just a reporter. I don't think I'd be cut out for such heroics."

"And I'm just a superfan," Chloe added. "Not to mention that I still have to work all my other issues out." She put a supporting hand on her former rival's back.

None of them said a word. Finally, Marinette got up.

"Where are you going?" Alya asked, concerned.

"I . . . need to take a walk," Marinette answered, dabbing at her eyes. "Just to get my mind off things." And with that, she turned and started walking down the lobby, exiting through the door. Alya and Chloe looked at each other, concerned.

Meanwhile, a few seats farther down the aisle, Jackie sat next to Nathanael, who had just come back from Marco's room.

"Funny how everything is right now," Jackie said to him.

"I know. You know what's strange?" Nathanael replied. "I always wanted to be my superhero character when I first created him, and now, I actually got to be him. And all because of the very same Miraculous that made me evil in the first place."

"Yeah," agreed Jackie. "Who would have thought that I actually could be a superhero thanks to the jewel Marco wore?"

"You know him?" Nathanael replied.

"Oh yeah," Jackie chuckled, a bit sadly. "He was my ex-boyfriend, but he wanted to end the relationship because of major self-esteem issues. Which is a shame, because the two of us could have really been an item."

"I know the feeling," Nathanael agreed. "I had a crush on Marinette once, but I quickly got over it once I realized she didn't really have feelings for me."

Jackie chuckled again. "Well, you kinda look pretty cute. And it was great working alongside you to help save two dimensions." She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. Instantly, Nathanael's face blushed until it was the same shade as his tomato-colored hair, and he fainted, feeling that right then and there, he could die of happiness. This did not go unnoticed by Chloe, who growled a little at the sight of the two of them together. She didn't know it then, but maybe she was starting to have feelings for Nathanael after all.

* * *

Long after Marinette's friends had left Marco's room, Star remained behind to keep him company. The only sounds that could be heard were the steady beeping of the cardiogram and the ticking of the clock. Star stared at the wand in her hand, then at Marco. At last, she got up from her chair and walked over to where he was.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered. "I never should have let my jealousy and anger get the better of me. I promise with all my heart that if ever you make it through this alive, I will never, ever get mad at you ever again. Just please come back one last time, so I can say to you- I love you."

The unconscious body of the boy she loved lay still, not responding. Star leaned over close to his face and planted one small kiss on his cheek. Then she turned around and was about to go back to her seat when she heard a small voice say, "S-Star?"

Star froze, then turned around, hardly believing it. Marco had opened his eyes a little. Overjoyed that he had survived, Star ran over to his bed and gave him the biggest hug he had ever received. For some reason, however, Marco was not smiling.

"Star," he said sadly, "I'm sorry for everything I put you through these last few days. I really had no idea that I was making you jealous. If I did, things would have been very, very different."

Star stopped hugging him and stared back at him with concern. Marco continued, "Look, if you want to go ahead and leave me, I deserve it. I'm the reason that you got akumatized tonight. I'm the reason we got into this mess. And I'm sorry for probably being the worst friend ever. I didn't ask for any of this, and neither did you."

Star stared at him, not saying anything. At last, she said, "Marco, it's okay. I share some of the blame as well. If only I told you from the start how I felt about you, then we would have been able to work things out." She flashed him a small, soft smile. "I don't want to leave. I want to stay here with you."

"Really?" Marco's face broke out into a huge grin. "Hug me, sister!" Star gladly accepted, and the two of them shared another tight embrace.

* * *

Marinette continued walking down the hallway, reflecting on the events that had happened. First, she found that her partner was the boy that she always had a crush on. Then, she was outed as Ladybug. Then, Alya ended their friendship. Then, she reconciled with her, and now the person who bullied her for four years was now offering to be her friend. It was funny how a lot could change in the course of one night.

She was so lost in thought that she failed to notice that she had bumped into someone, falling down onto the floor and scattering both her earrings. She looked up and saw that it was none other than Adrien, who smiled at her and offered her his hand to get up.

"You dropped something," the black cat kwami on his shoulder noted dryly, motioning over to the ladybug earrings. Marinette picked them up.

"You must be Marinette," the cat kwami continued. "Adrien has told me about you. Name's Plagg. Nice to meet ya. You sure you don't want to wear those?"

Marinette stared at the earrings she had picked up. "I'm not sure anymore," she said softly. "And since no one's volunteered to become the new Ladybug, I'm considering giving these back to Master Fu."

"But why?" Adrien said. "You were amazing back there. You helped save two worlds, and safely took back the Moth Miraculous from Hawk Moth."

"I honestly had no idea that he was your father," Marinette said honestly.

"Neither did I," Adrien admitted. "Though, to be honest, I'd rather stay with Uncle Gabriel. He has made me who I am today, and I'd be proud to call him my father." From around the corner, unbeknownst to either of them, the figure of Gabriel Agreste, who had been listening in on the conversation, smiled and disappeared around the corner.

"I'm sure he'd be glad for that," Marinette assured him.

Adrien smiled. "Listen, after tonight, I'm kinda sheepish that I never knew who Ladybug-I mean, you really were. Master Fu gave those earrings to you for a reason, and I think he'd be very disappointed to have to receive them back from you."

Marinette considered. At last, she screwed in her earrings, having decided to become Ladybug once more. Instantly, Tikki reappeared, a big smile on her face, overjoyed that her owner had decided to try again.

"I knew you'd come around!" she said to Marinette, who grinned back at her in return.

"Well, it wasn't easy," she admitted, "but I'm willing to try again."

"That's the Marinette I know!" Tikki beamed proudly at her.

Marinette smiled briefly at Tikki, before looking up at Adrian. The way he was looking at her suddenly had her feeling like she was back in a school day only ten times smaller. His look was sheepish but at the same time, the smile he was giving her was making her feel weak.

"And speaking of things that made me feel sheepish.."

"Adrian," Marinette interrupted him suddenly. "This was a complete surprise for me too."

"Oh good. Then I guess…"

"Wait." Marinette's eyes suddenly turned downward slightly. Plagg and Tikki watched the conversation bounce back and forth as if they were watching the finest tennis match ever.

"Everything happened so fast for us, that I never quite got time to process the truth. I mean, how in the world can you have such an interest in me?"

Adrian had a bit of an incredulous look on his face after hearing that. "Are you kidding me? You're miraculous Marinette. When we worked together for so long, of course I would be attracted to the bravery and confidence you showed. Not to mention your compassion and determination to set things right."

"But that was Ladybug! She's only part of me. The other part, well, do you really think that a fumbling baker's girl is good enough for you?"

Suddenly, Adrian gave Marinette a swift kiss on her cheek. "Try me," he replied with a smile.

Marinette was frozen. Utterly frozen in place. Then she reached up to touch her cheek, and had a smile break out almost as wide as one of Star's. Internally she thought, "That was twice as good as Marco's kiss!" In reply though, she gave Adrian a kiss back on his cheek.

The two chuckled at each other, giving content smiles.

"Well," Plagg interrupted out of nowhere, motioning toward the open door, "looks like someone has recovered." Marinette and Adrien turned and saw Marco, now fully awake, embracing Star wholeheartedly.

"They look so cute together," Adrien smiled, watching Star and Marco engage in the reconciliatory hug. Marinette smiled as well.

"Those two were meant for each other," she said.

"As are you," said another voice. Both of turned to see that Master Fu had joined them, accompanied by Nooroo and Wayzz.

"Come again?" Adrien asked, a bit confused.

"When I first gave your Miraculouses, I wanted to see whether you would be up to the task of saving the world," Master Fu started. "And tonight, you've proven yourself to be more than worthy of your jewels. That aside, you two are the most caring, compassionate, and selfless individuals I have ever met. Even outside the costume, you are willing to risk everything you have just to help others."

Marinette blushed. "You . . . you really think so?"

"Of course, my dear," Master Fu smiled mysteriously. Marinette noticed that he held the recovered brooch in his left hand. "But now that your friends know who you really are, I believe the time has come for you to ask yourselves, _Where do we go from here?_ I mean, now that Hawk Moth is gone, what are your roles as heroes now? After all, Hawk Moth sounded like he would come back at some point in the future, so you have quite some time to discover who you are meant to be until then."

"Of course, Master Fu," Adrien agreed, bowing respectfully.

Master Fu smiled. "Very well, Adrien. Now, I believe that you two have unresolved issues to work out with them." He pointed to Star and Marco.

Marinette turned to Adrien, as if to say, _Let's settle this once and for all._

Adrian in reply gave her a look that almost made Marinette give a small squeal of delight. Because in that look was all she needed to know about what she had to tell Marco.

Both of them entered the room where Marco lay in the hospital bed. Both Star and Marco turned to face them.

"Oh, hey guys," Marco smiled. "What brings you two here?"

"Marco, there's something we have to talk about," Marinette said in a rather subdued voice. "I know that these last few days have been the most exciting and fun ones we've ever had"-she sat down on a chair opposite him-"but the truth is, I don't think we can ever be together."

Marco's heart sank a little. "Why is that?"

Marinette sighed. "Look, this has been a really crazy night for all of us, but now that I know who Cat Noir really is, and vice-versa, I just don't think that you and I can be an official couple."

"Oh," Marco said, not bothering to hide his disappointment. "Okay."He sank down in his bed.

"But that doesn't mean we can't still be friends," Adrien added hastily. "After all, you and Star really refreshed our lives here in Paris. Besides, she sounds like a really kind and sweet girl." Star beamed at him.

Marco paused to consider. He still wanted to be with Marinette after all that he had been through with her tonight. However, he now had to accept the fact that she and Adrien were meant to be together. Besides, it had been partly his fault that Star became an akuma, and all because she had a crush on him that he hadn't reciprocated. Not to mention that he had more awesome moments with Star, whereas his awesome moments with Marinette basically boiled down to fighting to save the world.

"You know what, Mari?" he said at last, sitting up straight, accepting the outcome and the consolation prize that was attached to it. "You and Adrien are right. Perhaps we can remain just friends." Marinette smiled.

"Thanks, Marco," she said. "We really appreciate it."

"GROUP HUG!" Star declared happily. The four of them got into a circle around Marco's bed, and Star hugged all of them. Master Fu and the kwamis looked on at the sight, smiling at each other.

"Well," Tikki said to Plagg, "I guess we'll be seeing a lot more of each other from now on."

"I'm really looking forward to that," Plagg replied mischievously. Tikki rolled her eyes in good humor, smiling. If this is what Adrien had to put up with all this time as Cat Noir, anything could happen when Plagg was around.

It was the most memorable night in Marinette's life, a night that neither she nor anyone else who had fought beside her would ever forget.

(Just Friends-Love Sentence)

Marco:

 _It was no secret  
The way that we feel_

Star:

 _A love that's so pure  
A love that's so real_

Adrien:

 _You showed me your world  
And it felt like a sign_

Marinette:

 _But we acted too slow  
And we ran out of ti-i-ime_

All:

 _And now we'll be just friends  
We will be just friends  
And now we'll be just friends  
Be just friends_

Marco(to Star):

 _I didn't mean to hurt you_

Star(to Marco):

 _You didn't have a clue_

Marco:

 _So I went out and got busy_

Star:

 _And found somebody new, new, new_

All:

 _And now we'll be just friends  
We will be just friends  
And now we'll be just friends  
Be just friends . . . _

**And now we'll be**

 **Just friends**

 **We will be**

 **Just friends**

 **And now we'll be**

 **Just friends**

 **Be just friends . . .**

 **Love Sentence, "Just Friends"**


	18. Simply the Best

**And now, ladies and gentlemen, we reach the conclusion of this adventure.**

Simply The Best

When morning came, Marco's injuries had fully healed, and he was immediately released from the hospital, much to the relief of both of his worried parents. Everyone else was relieved as well, because to them, it meant that the long night was finally over.

On the car ride back to Marinette's home, Marco and Star sat in between Mr. and Mrs. Diaz, not saying a word. It was funny how things could change so quickly, Marco thought to himself as they passed many of the locations that Marinette, Adrien, and Alya had shown them on their first full day in Paris. He had come to Paris seeking a vacation and was about to leave it a hero. Star reached out to him, holding his hand, with a look of longing in his eyes.

"It's funny how a lot could change in a week, or even a night," he said to Star as they disembarked from the car. "I wasn't expecting to get the same kind of treatment I got at St. O's, and I definitely wasn't expecting that we'd end up in a relationship."

"Yeah, I know," Star agreed, smiling. She was looking forward to spending time with her new boyfriend.

"Which reminds me," Mrs. Diaz added, "Marco, Master Fu visited us while you were recovering, and he wanted to know if you wanted to keep the Moth Miraculous."

"WHAT?!" Marco shrieked, obviously surprised. "Are you serious?"

"Of course," his mom smiled. "He felt that you deserved it after everything you did last night."

Marco blushed furiously. At last, he managed to compose himself and said, "Tell Master Fu that I appreciate his offer. However, it has been in the hands of evil for far too long. Nooroo must get his rest after all that he had suffered. Maybe at some point in the future, if we come back, I can accept it."

His mom smiled. "Of course. I will let him know. Now, let us go and rest. We've been through a lot in the past few hours."

* * *

Later, after the Diazes and Star went to their room to catch up on their sleep, Marinette and Tikki went downstairs. There was something that they had to tell their parents.

"Mr. and Mrs. Dupain-Cheng?" Tikki squeaked. "There's something that Marinette wants to tell you."

Both of Marinette's parents turned around. "What is it?" Mr. Dupain asked at last, eyeing his daughter curiously.

"Mom, Dad," Marinette said at last, "I apologize for not telling you sooner about Tikki's existence. But I thought I was doing the right thing by keeping you safe."

"It's okay," Mr. Dupain assured her. "Your mom and I are just glad that you're okay after all this."

"Now go get some sleep. You'll need your energy," Mrs. Cheng continued.

"For what?" Tikki asked curiously.

"Didn't you know? Mayor Bourgeois is honoring you and your friends with a special ceremony as a thank-you for everything you've done this evening," Mrs. Cheng smiled.

Marinette and Tikki looked at each other, hardly believing it. Who would have thought that she, the daughter of two simple bakers, would end up getting honored by the Mayor, of all people, in a huge ceremony in front of millions as a show of gratitude?

"I . . . I don't know what to say!" Marinette grinned sheepishly, blushing furiously. Tikki smiled.

* * *

Later that evening, everyone was gathered in the town square for the ceremony honoring the four heroes of Paris. Backstage, Star looked at the others with pride.

"Well," she said, "this is it, guys. This is the first day of the rest of our lives."

"You can say that again," said a familiar regal voice. All four of them turned to see that Janna, Jackie, Buff Frog, King River, and Queen Moon had joined them, all of them proud of what they had achieved.

"Congratulations, everyone," Queen Moon said wholeheartedly, smiling a little. "You've made us very proud of you."

"Indeed," Janna affirmed. "But Marco, don't think this means I'm gonna stop teasing you."

Marco smiled and shook his head. "Don't worry, Janna, I won't." Some things might never change, but sometimes, it was a good thing.

"You do good job back there at monster tower," Buff Frog continued, giving the four of them a silent wink. Marinette giggled, while Adrien blushed. Marco, however, noticed that Jackie was looking away from him nervously for some reason, and he had a pretty good idea why.

"If everyone can just clear out for a second," he started, "I need a word with Jackie." The others quickly dispersed until soon, only Jackie and Marco remained.

"Jackie," Marco started in a soft, sheepish voice, "I'm sorry I broke up with you all those months ago. I really didn't feel confident in myself. But now, after donning the Moth Miraculous and saving the world, I feel like I can do almost anything. Guess saving the world was all I ever needed, really," he added, chuckling. "I'm hoping we can remain friends as well."

Jackie smiled. "It's okay, Marco. Of course we can remain friends. And hey, at least we got some practice for our future relationships." She gave him one last kiss on the cheek. "Now go. They are waiting for you."

Marco nodded, smiling. At last, he took a deep breath and turned to meet the crowd waiting for him.

"Ladies and gentlemen," the mayor's voice boomed across the stage, "I give you the heroes of Paris, Ladybug and Cat Noir! And their friends, Marco Diaz and Star Butterfly!"

* * *

The rest of the vacation passed by without much incident as Star, Marco, and their pals spent whatever time they had left with their Parisian friends. Finally, the day had come when the entire Echo Creek gang had to go back home. Marinette, Adrien, their classmates, Master Fu, the kwamis, and Adrien's adoptive father accompanied Star, Marco, and the rest of their friends back to the dimensional hole leading back to Echo Creek.

"You sure you can't stay?" Nino said to Marco and Star. "We feel like we've barely gotten to know you."

Marco chuckled. "Thanks, Nino. Unfortunately, school is about to start back home."

"That's too bad," Adrien said. "Well, just remember that you and your friends are welcome back here anytime." The others nodded enthusiastically.

Marco went up to Adrien and gave him a brotherly hug. "Take care, Cat Noir."

"Same to you, too," Adrien said.

Meanwhile, Star and Marinette were saying their final goodbyes to each other.

"So, I guess this is goodbye," Star said.

"Yeah, I guess it is," Marinette agreed. "But like Adrien said, you and your friends can come back whenever you want or need to."

Star hugged Marinette. "See ya around, Ladybug," she said. "And take care of Adrien and Tikki for us."

"Don't worry," Marinette said. "I will."

"Enough chitchatting," Pony Head interrupted. "Let's get on out of here!" She entered the dimensional hole, followed by Buff Frog, the laser puppies, King River, Queen Moon, Jackie, Janna, and Mr. and Mrs. Diaz. Marco and Star stepped into the hole, hand in hand, and looked back one last time at their Parisian friends. They gave them one last small smile before they entered. Instantly, the hole disappeared, as if it had never been there at all.

"Will they come back, Master?" Wayzz asked Master Fu, who smiled mysteriously.

"I have no doubt that they will see them again in the future," he assured him.

* * *

Elsewhere, in another dimension, in a high, majestic castle that loomed over a simple town, a young purple unicorn with wings and an image of six stars on her flank was organizing her books. She had just finished rearranging them when she noticed a dark red book with black spots all over it that she had never seen before in her life.

 _That's odd,_ she thought to herself. _I don't recall buying this anywhere_. She picked up the book.

"'Miraculous Ladybug vs. the Forces of Evil'," she read the title aloud. She sat down with the book and opened the cover. "I wonder if this is any good."

* * *

A few days after Star, Marco, and their friends returned to Echo Creek, life returned to normal as it ever would in Paris. The only difference was that the entire city knew the identities of its saviors, and nowhere was it made more obvious than in the College Francois Dupont.

For one thing, the students had apparently gotten over their anger at the fact that Marinette and Adrien never told about their other lives. Evidently, somehow, Alya and Chloe had managed to tell the students the real reason why Master Fu forbade them to reveal their identities, and on Monday morning, Marinette and Adrien walked into a class full of students smiling warmly back. Even Mrs. Bustier beamed back at the two of them.

"Welcome, you two," she smiled at them. "Now, please take your seats so that we can get started on your lessons, shall we?"

"Of course, Mrs. Bustier," Marinette smiled back. She and Adrien took their respective seats right next to their friends. As soon as Marinette sat down next to Alya, they smiled at each other.

"Thanks for letting everyone know," Marinette said to Alya.

"My pleasure, girl," Alya reciprocated. "However, from now on, try to confide all your secrets in me, okay? It would save us both a lot of heartache."

Marinette giggled. "I promise, Alya."

"All right, class," Mrs. Bustier started. "Please open up to Chapter 16 of _A History of France_ and answer the first-"

Just then, a large explosion sounded in the distance, followed shortly by the wailing of sirens. Alya put a hand on her best friend's back. "Go," she smiled proudly. "I'll get the homework ready for you."

"I believe that's your cue," Mrs. Bustier said, smiling at Marinette. She looked at Adrien, who turned and nodded back.

"Ready?" she said to her new boyfriend.

"Ready as I'll ever be," he smiled back.

Both of them got up and went to the front door, ready to transform. As they went, the room broke out into applause as several classmates cheered them on.

"Go get 'em, tigers!"

"You got this!"

"Show 'em how it's done!"

"Good luck!"

Marinette was surprised by these last two words, because they sounded like they came out from the mouth of someone whom she had despised so long ago. Nevertheless, she smiled in good humor, for she knew that things could only go up from here on out.

And both of them ran out of the room, ready to confront and defeat the danger that was waiting for them out there.

(~)

(sing to Miraculous Ladybug (Extended) by Laura Marano)

Star:

 _Another day, I don't know why_

 _He comes my way, and I get so shy_

 _So insecure, all by myself_

' _Til the Earth says it needs my help_

( _Oh oh oh_ )

 _Oh yeah, I wouldn't know_

( _Oh oh oh_ )

' _Cause I'm unbeatable_

( _Oh oh oh_ )

 _And when it's time to go,_

 _That's when I become . . ._

Star, Marco, Marinette, Adrien:

 _Miraculous, simply the best!_

 _Up to the test when things go wrong!_

 _Miraculous, the luckiest!_

 _The power of love always so strong!_

Marco:

 _I'm watching her, she looks at me_

 _We know our names and our identities_

 _She's super cool, she's pretty rad_

 _And she knows how, how to make me laugh_

( _Oh oh oh_ )

 _She's got me spinning round_

( _Oh oh oh_ )

 _My feet are off the ground_

( _Oh oh oh_ )

 _And when it's time to go,_

 _That's when she becomes . . ._

Star, Marco, Marinette, Adrien:

 _Miraculous, simply the best!_

 _Up to the test when things go wrong!_

 _Miraculous, yeah, we got this!_

 _We gotta confess that we feel so strong!_

Marinette:

 _Another day, I'm back at school_

 _I think about him, he's so cool_

 _He looks at me, I look away_

 _I know that he saw me anyway_

( _Oh oh oh_ )

 _He's got me spinning round_

( _Oh oh oh_ )

 _My feet are off the ground_

( _Oh oh oh_ )

 _And when the sun goes down,_

 _You better stick around_

Star, Marco, Marinette, Adrien:

 _Miraculous, simply the best!_

 _Up to the test when things go wrong!_

 _Miraculous, the luckiest!_

 _The power of love always so strong!_

Adrien:

 _I'm Cat Noir, just chilling out_

 _But in the night, she's all I think about_

 _I feel so strong when she's around_

 _She helps me up when I feel down_

( _Oh oh oh_ )

 _Oh no, you'll never know_

( _Oh oh oh_ )

 _My love can only grow_

( _Oh oh oh_ )

 _And when I see her smile,_

 _That's when she becomes . . ._

Star:

 _Miraculous, simply the best!_

 _Up to the test when things go wrong!_

(Adrien: _Miraculous, ohhh . . ._ )

Marinette:

 _Miraculous, yeah, we got this!_

 _We gotta confess that we feel so strong!_

(Marco, Adrien: _Oh,oh,oh!_ )

Star, Marinette:

 _Miraculous, simply the best!_

 _Up to the test when things go wrong!_

(Marco: _Miraculous, oh . . ._ )

 _Miraculous, yeah, we got this!_

 _We gotta confess that we feel so strong!_

 _Miraculous, simply the best!_

(Adrien: _Miraculous, you are the best!_ )

 _Up to the test when things go wrong!_

(Marco: _Oh!_ )

 _Miraculous, yeah, we got this!_

(Marco, Adrien: _We got this!_ )

 _We gotta confess that we feel so strong!_

(Marco, Adrien: _That we feel so strong!_ )

Star, Marco, Marinette, Adrien:

 _Miraculous!_

(~)

 **And thus, one tale ends, but another one begins.**

 **Thank you guys SO MUCH for being a part of this wonderful journey, whether you followed, favorited, reviewed, or simply just read. This fic means a lot to me.**

 **However, there are three people on this website who deserve special thanks:**

 **-fellow fanfic writer Maggiesheartlove, without whom this fic would not have been possible, because she introduced me to Miraculous Ladybug**

 **-fellow reviewer eric the looney, who is the reason this fic has a "spot on" (geddit?) TV Tropes and who regularly reviewed my story on a chapter-by-chapter basis**

 **-and finally, Kryokina, who helped me out along with eric on this fic whenever I got stuck and promoted this story on her page**

 **Thank you everyone so much for keeping up with this fic! :D**

 **By the way, for all the bronies and pegasisters reading this, I think you have a pretty good idea what the sequel to this will be. ;)**


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